The Chronicles of Hinata Hyuga
by AceSage
Summary: This story follows Hinata Hyuga's path through the Naruto world to become a strong ninja. Have you ever wondered how her life would be impacted with a few different choices? Would she impress the person she has always admired? The story will start slow but the tension will rise as Hinata's character is thrown into different situations.
1. Chapter 1: Hinata Hyuga & Naruto Uzumaki

**Authors Note: What inspired me to start this was not only is Hinata one of my favorite characters in Naruto but one of my favorites in the entire anime world.**

**I will try to follow the events of the main story line from Hinata's perspective, only I will put my own twists on the story. The story will start off slow, but it will build up as it goes along, so don't be discouraged if the first couple of chapters are a little slow.**

**Hinata is 7 years old at the story's beginning**

**I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does**

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Chapter 1: Hinata Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki

Hinata Hyuga is the heiress of the prestigious Hyuga clan. Well, it's better to say she is supposed to be the heir if it wasn't for her younger sister Hanabi Hyuga.

Hanabi has proved to have a better mastery of the Hyuga clan's martial art style, Juuken or Gentle Fist, than Hinata despite being five years younger.

As a result their father Hiashi Hyuga has always shown more attention to Hanabi than Hinata. Hiashi had high hopes for Hinata in the beginning but quickly lost faith in her and focused on her sister instead.

This resulted in Hinata have major confidence problems. Since everybody in the clan never supported Hinata and claimed her to be weak, it stuck with her psychologically.

She thinks she is weak therefore she will become weak.

Only two people ever supported Hinata, her bodyguard Ko, and her mother. Sadly Hinata's mother passed away when she was five. Hinata would get the support from her mother when her dad would never give it to her. Hinata's shy, quiet, kind nature came from her mother. Hyugas tend to be very strict in blunt in their ways.

Another way Hinata feels she doesn't fit in. But she is fine with her personality.

flashback

The Hyuga elders all gathered when Hinata was about to start her training. "Lady Hinata," said one of the elders. "Before your excused tell us, what is your goal?

Hinata thought about it and then said, "I want to be strong ninja like father and kind like my mother." Hinata then gave them a smile. The elders stared at her in confusion.

They all thought ' What's with this girl?' Never have the elders seen a Hyuga like her. Especially considering she was the heir to the clan. Wanting to be strong and kind? What kind of goal was that for a Hyuga?

"Thank You, you can leave now Lady Hinata," said the elder. Hinata politely bowed and then left.

/flashback

Hinata had short extremely dark blue hair and fair skin like her mother. Hinata also had the custom Hyuga Eyes. They were white eyes with a tinge of lavender no visible iris. Today Hinata was sporting lavender and pink jacket with brown pants that stopped around the shin.

Hinata was being escorted through the village by her bodyguard Ko. He was going to show her the Leaf Ninja Academy. Hiashi enrolled Hinata in the ninja academy as a last effort for her to develop her skills. It is extremely rare for a Hyuga of the main branch (especially an heir) to attend the ninja academy. The only Hyugas you would ever see in the ninja academy were from lesser branches.

Yet another way Hinata is different from her clansmen.

Even though Hinata knew this was basically a punishment for her weakness, she didn't care. When she was training at home people would call her names like "The Hyuga Defect" or terms like "Failure" and "Loser". One time she heard someone call her "The Bane of the Hyuga Clan". Honestly, she would rather train in a cave than at home where she was constantly criticized.

Hinata and Ko were walking in the middle of the village when they heard screaming. Hinata looked back to see a crowd of people looking at a spiky haired blonde boy screaming at the top of his lungs. He said, "You all just watch, I am definitely going to be Hokage one day!" I am going to show you all!" The boy than ran till he was out of sight.

Hinata thought, ' Who was that boy?' 'He looked really sad.' Hinata could hear the mutters of the people. "What an awful boy" " Why won't he just die already" " That Nine-Tails" is the worst"

'Nine-Tails (The Japanese name for it is the Kyuubi but I've decided to call it the Nine-Tails instead)?' Hinata thought. 'That sure is weird name.' "Hey Ko, who's the Nine-Tails."

Ko looked at Hinata like he forgot she was there. For a moment he had a glare of disgust in the direction that boy ran. "Oh, it's nothing you need to worry about Lady Hinata." 'But no matter what you must stay away from that boy, he's dangerous." "Now let's go, the academy is a little ways away," Ko finished.

Hinata wanted to ask more about that boy. She wanted to know more about this Nine-Tails. Why did everybody hate it? What did that boy have to do with it? He certainly didn't look dangerous to Hinata. Hinata was going to ask but Ko had already started walking again signaling that he was done talking about it. 'Guess I'll just ask another time then,' thought Hinata.

Hinata and Ko finally arrived in front of the ninja academy. It was bigger than Hinata would have thought.

"Tomorrow you are going to attend this academy Lady Hinata," said Ko." As you know, the ninja academy is where people go to become Genin. "When you become a Genin you will be assigned to a team and conduct ninja missions."

Hinata knew that ninja missions most of the time had a possibility of death. It was one of the reasons why members of the main branch never attended, besides nobility.

It's why many people were opposed to Hinata becoming a Genin. The only time the Hyuga main branch left the village is when it was a political affair with another village or a special mission, or a war.

Hinata was nervous. Thoughts of her being weak kept plaguing her mind. "What if I fail?" "What if I'm so weak I won't make it out of the academy?"

Hinata knew that she would have to support top grades. It was important that a Hyuga be the best especially the heir to the main house. Hinata was very smart when it came to puzzles and memorization. Her only problem her physical ability.

"I hope I can succeed," said Hinata.

"Of course you can," said Ko. "You just have to believe in yourself, that's all"

When Ko finished, Hinata could hear a screeching sound behind her. She turned around to see that spiky haired blonde boy on and old wooden swing attached to a tree. He was alone with his eyes closed and his head hanging down. When she took a closer look there was a spiral fish cake design on his shirt. The type of fish cake you would put in ramen. She thought this was funny.

'That boy again,' said Hinata. She thought the boy looked pretty lonely. She still didn't think the boy looked dangerous. It was more like he wanted a friend. Hinata understood loneliness all too well. With her mom gone nobody really tried to be Hinata's friend except Ko and she is barely going to see Ko anymore with school starting.

Her dad didn't even speak to her anymore and she has been estranged with her sister ever since she started her Gentle Fist training.

Hinata felt she was all alone, just like that boy. She wondered if people called him a failure or a loser like people called her.

Hinata thought, ' Maybe I should say hi.'

Ko looked around and the moment he saw the boy, that same look of disgust that was on his face earlier had reappeared. "Let's go Lady Hinata."

"But why," Hinata said. She really couldn't understand why Ko hated that boy so much. Ko was never a hateful person. In many ways Ko was kind and accepting just like her.

She had never seen him show such dislike to anybody else. Let alone a child. She wondered if it had something to do with whatever the Nine-Tails is.

"Ko, do you hate the Nine-Tails," said Hinata.

Ko gave her a bewildered look. "It's nothing Lady Hinata," " Come along, it's time for your training." Ko pulled Hinata along before she could ask more questions.

Ko thought, " You really are observant, Lady Hinata."

As soon as Hinata got home she changed into her custom training attire. A black shirt and pants with a black band tied around her waist. She dreadfully got ready for her

training. Since Hiashi always preferred training Hanabi, he assigned Hinata an instructor for her Gentle Fist training. The instructors were never nice. They always insulted Hinata when she did things wrong. Even if she did something right they would still try to find a flaw.

Ko looked at Hinata and noticed her misery. "I know your father can seem harsh, but it's only because he has really high hopes for you."

Hinata nodded than made her way to the training room and was surprised to find Hiashi and Hanabi. Hinata looked at Ko and he seemed surprised too. Hiashi never came to Hinata sparring lessons. The last time Hiashi came to see Hinata spar was when her training was beginning and that was only because he taught her himself.

"Hinata, today I would like you to spar against your sister Hanabi," said Hiashi. Hinata was stunned. Even though you could tell that Hanabi was tougher, her and Hinata had never fought before. "Hinata, I trust you're ready?" Of course Hinata wasn't ready. She had to fight her little sister without notice. Even though Hinata isn't as close to Hanabi as before she felt conflicted hurting her. However, she wouldn't dare disobey her father.

"Yes" said Hinata.

"Good, take your places," said Hiashi.

Hinata and Hanabi took their respected places on both side of the stage. Hinata looked at Ko who gave her a reassuring smile. Hiashi simply crossed his arms in wait.

What bothered Hinata so much is her sister wasn't showing any emotion at all. She didn't look conflicted at fighting Hinata at all.

'It almost looks as if she wants to hurt me' Hinata thought. 'It's like I'm a total stranger to her.' This hurt Hinata. Even though they barely talked, Hinata still felt the need to protect her sister. But clearly her sister didn't share her feelings.

They both took their fighting stances and Hanabi wasted no time charging at Hinata. Hanabi was so fast Hinata could only dodge. Hinata attempted to strike but Hanabi blocked that and thrust her palm into Hinata's abdomen.

"Gah," said Hinata. 'Is she really this tough,' thought Hinata. 'Or is it I'm just really weak?'

Hanabi charged again and Hinata was forced on defense in fear of being struck again. Hinata watched closely for any kind of opening.

She found it. Hanabi did a two palm thrust at hear chest but Hinata ducked and gave Hanabi a palm thrust that shoved her back.

Ko smiled and Hiashi raised an eyebrow

Hiashi thought ' Nobody has been able to hit Hanabi like that,' 'Maybe there is hope for Hinata after all.'

Hinata saw Hanabi kneeling down and then jump in the air to give one last strike. 'I'll try to not use my full power so it won't hurt her too much.' Hinata thought.

However, she never got the chance. Hanabi, quick as lightning, jumped in the air and did midair kick to Hinata's stomach. Hinata automatically had the wind knocked out of her as she landed on the floor with a harsh thud with Hanabi standing over her in victory.

Ko gasped at Hinata's defeat.

Hiashi thought, ' Or maybe I was mistaken.' Hiashi shook his head in disappointment and signaled for Hanabi to leave with him.

Hanabi looked at Hinata and then left.

Hinata sat on her knees with her hands on the floor and shed tears of despair.

'Why am I so weak,' thought Hinata. 'Everybody is right; I'm a loser and a failure.' 'I wish I could be stronger and not be such a burden to my clan'

Hinata continued to cry as Ko walked up to comfort her. However, as soon as Ko got to Hinata, she burst out of the room and into the streets of the village.

"Lady Hinata," Ko shouted. "Damn it" Ko ran off to search for her.

Hinata kept her head down as she ran as fast as she could. She wanted to escape the Hyuga Clan, escape her duties, and escape her life. She figured if she ran fast enough she could escape everything. Maybe she could even see her mother.

Hinata thought, ' I'm sorry Mom." I promised you I'd be a good Hyuga, and all I do is fail.' 'I don't deserve to be you or fathers daughter.' 'I don't deserve to be a Hyuga.'

She kept running until she collided with a squishy object. She looked down and saw an ice cream cone. When she looked up she realized what just happen. She ran was running without looking until she hit a kid (a chubby one I might add) and knocked his ice cream to the ground. In total there were three boys all looking at her in shock. Before they could do anything Hinata ran in fright.

"Hey!" said one of the kids. "Get her!"

Hinata managed to make it to the small woods next to the academy until they caught her.

The three boys started talking.

"Thought you would run of without telling us you're sorry huh. Yeah, how rude. Hey check out her eyes, there the same as Neji Hyuga's. She must be a Hyuga too and stuck up like them too because of her family's talent."

"I'm not like that at all," Hinata said softly. Hinata tried to run again but one of them grabbed her by the arm and shoved her back.

"Trying to run off without saying sorry huh, what a jerk! Don't let her get away with that."

The pint-sized kid with the hat shoved her to the ground until she was on her knees. "Hey, say youth sorry and you better mean it."

"I'm sorry...," Hinata said softly.

"That's not good enough! Say it like you mean it!" The chubby one shoved her head farther to the ground. "Apologize nicely."

Hinata was now starting to cry again. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," cried Hinata.

Tears started flowing down on the ground. Hinata felt utterly hopeless. Is seems no matter what she did she always ended up in tears because of her own weakness.

Hinata was still crying while she kept repeating she was sorry. She felt she was about to slip into total despair until she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, knock it off." Hinata turned to see, for the third time today, the spiky haired blonde boy.

"What do you want," one of the boys said. "Hey it's that kid everyone hates, the one that always gets into trouble." "Oh yeah... that guy."

"That guy, huh." All three boys burst out into laughter.

"I'm not that guy, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. The next Hokage, believe it!"

"Hokage!?" all three boys said at the same time. They all began laughing again. "Are you crazy" " What a bunch of baloney" " You sure are a stupid kid?"

'It's him again,' Hinata thought.

Upon closer inspection she could see he had bright blue eyes and three stripes on each cheek. 'Is that normal,' Hinata thought.

"Get real, there's no way an idiot like you can ever be Hokage!" The kid with the hat proceeded to Naruto in the face.

Hinata gasped. However, it wasn't long before Naruto struggled back to his feet and smiled.

"You want to fight kid."

Naruto continued to smile. "You better not regret you three" Then he threw up a hand seal.

All three of them gasped "That's a hand seal!"

Hinata also gasped. 'Can he use Ninjutsu at his age?' Hinata had already been told what Ninjutsu is. Ninjutsu is when a ninja uses special movements or hand signs to manipulate the chakra in their bodies to use special attacks and abilities. They can be really strong. It's really rare for a kid Hinata's or Naruto's age to use them.

"Shadow Clone...," started Naruto.

"No way!" said all three boys.

"Jutsu! screamed Naruto. There was a puff of white smoke and when it dissipated another Naruto appeared. Only, there were some problems. First of all the clone was all wobbly like it was made out of paper. Also, it couldn't keep its footing so it fell face first on the ground. It looked like a poorly drawn cartoon character. The three boys busted into their loudest laughs yet. "Ha, that was pathetic."

Hinata gave a comical sad face to the cartoony clone.

Naruto took this opportunity to tackle the kid with the hat while they were laughing.

"Ha, caught you off guard!" "How do you like that?" "Now listen up, I'm defiantly going to become Hokage and I'll prove everybody wrong!"

Naruto got a few hits on the kid but the other two kids pulled Naruto off and proceeded to beat him up.

Hinata was horrified. She wanted to do something but she didn't know what she could do. It's not like she could take them all on. 'I can't even beat my little sister,'thought Hinata. She simply closed her eyes and turns her head from the ugly scene.

"Lady Hinata," said Ko running in their direction.

"Oh crap, run!" said one of the boys. They were all out of sight in no time.

"Lady Hinata, are you alright." Ko paused and looked at Naruto unconscious on the ground. "Him again..." "Come on Lady Hinata"

"Wait!" said Hinata. "He came to my rescue..."

"You must not get involved with him!" Ko said cutting Hinata off. "Let's go"

"But...!" Hinata knew she had no choice. She took a long look at Naruto on the ground until he was out of sight.

Hinata's head was swimming with thoughts, 'Why had he helped me knowing probably what would happen...? Why would he continue to fight even though it was hopeless? why not just give up...?'

Hinata thought about Naruto and for some reason she felt something.

Admiration. Hinata admired Naruto's will not to give up. Hinata wanted that will.

Hinata thought, 'Just who are you?'

'Naruto Uzumaki.'

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**Author's Notes:**

**1. Whew! I was worried I would make it to short but this is just the introduction.**

**2. I used the flashback scenes from Naruto Shippuden episode 166 as a base for the beginning. I wanted to use the first chapter to introduce how Hinata was when she was a kid.**

**3. I know this seems kind of slow but don't despair! The pace will pick up, especially when she finally begins ninja missions. I am also sorry if I made Hinata to insecure about she but it seemed pretty right to how she started.**

**4. Like I said, I will try to include most of the main events in the original series as best possible like the Chunin Exams Arch and the Pain Invasion Arch, but their will be several changes in the story to include Hinata better.**

**5. If I made any mistakes or you would like to add suggestions please don't be afraid. I'm open to new ideas**.


	2. Chapter 2: 5 Years Later

**Authors Note: This chapter takes place before Hinata's ninja academy graduation exam.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does (if I did there wouldn't be so many freakin' flashbacks during fights)**

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Chapter 2: 5 years later

The calm woods of the Leaf Village always appealed to Hinata. It was a place where she found peace. It's also the place where she would see the person she admired the most, Naruto Uzumaki.

"Come on you stupid shuriken!" screamed Naruto. "Hit the center already!" Naruto threw the shuriken and they hit everywhere, except the target.

'Oh Naruto,' thought Hinata.

Over the years, Hinata has grown accustom to observing Naruto train. She always admired how even thought he would fail and struggle he would still try his very best. Pretty much everyone always put down Naruto, similar to Hinata. Whether it was his classmates or the villagers no one supported Naruto. Whether it was her father or her clan mates no one supported Hinata. Even though it still hurt they have both grown used to it by now.

'Okay Hinata, maybe today I can...' thought Hinata. She tried to step from behind the tree but her legs wouldn't allow her. 'Why can't i ever talk to him?'

Hinata has tried to face Naruto ever since he saved her from those bullies five years ago. Every time she would try she freeze up, start panicking, and then hide. One time Naruto actually talked to her when they bumped into each other in the hallways at the academy.

Flashback

Hinata was running to class at the Hidden Leafs Ninja Academy because she was running late, which was rare. When she turned the last corner she bumped into someone and collapsed on the ground.

"Ow." said Hinata. She looked towards the person so she could apologize. As soon as she saw who it was she immediately turned as red as a tomato.

It was Naruto.

"Hey, are you okay Hinata?" Despite never speaking Naruto remembered Hinata's name because they shared the same class, much to Hinata's happiness.

'He remembered my name?' happily thought Hinata.

"Man Hinata you look a red, are you feeling okay?"

'Now he's worried about me?'

"Here let me help you up." He reached out and grabbed Hinata's hand to help her up causing her to turn an even brighter shade of red.

'He's g-g-grabbing my h-h-hand!?' thought Hinata. She always had a stuttering problem, as pointed out by her father, but this was the first time it was so bad she stuttered inside of her head. Before Naruto could lift her up something happened for the first time in Hinata's life...

She fainted. Just fainted.

"Hey what's wrong Hinata! Help, somebody help!"

Twenty minutes later Hinata woke up in the academy infirmary bed. When the nurse saw her she smiled.

"You're finally awake." said the nurse.

"W-What happened to me?" said Hinata grabbing her head.

"You don't remember dear? You suddenly passed out in the hallway and then your little friend carried you here. You know the blonde one?"

"Naruto... c-c-carried me?" Hinata turned red again and then...

She fainted.

"I sure hope this doesn't become a habit for her." said the nurse scratching her head in confusion.

/flashback

That incident was four years ago but was still fresh in Hinata's mind. It became clear to her that she couldn't mentally be around Naruto to closely, let alone touch him. The only time they ever talked is when they would say hi, and that wasn't often. She simple settled with observing him.

"This time I will defiantly get it, dattebyo!" (Dattebyo is Naruto often used phrase when he speaks in his Japanese dialogue, I just wanted to use it once. Heh)

Hinata giggled at Naruto's famous phrase.

"Here we go! " Naruto threw his shuriken and, once again, hit everything but the center. "Crap!" said Naruto.

Hinata was great with her shuriken. She wanted to help Naruto so bad but she just couldn't bring up the courage to talk to him.

'What if he thinks I'm creepy for watching him and never talks to me again, 'thought Hinata. it would kill her inside to never be able to talk to Naruto. 'What if i just faint again?'

Hinata honestly could never figure out why she can't control herself around Naruto. She admired him greatly of course but she still didn't think that was it. What is it that makes me lose control she always thought? Why do I suddenly fall apart?

She took a hard look at him.

'It's not like I...' she thought and paused. 'It's not like I...'

"Well I guess I'll have to try tomorrow." said Naruto. He was sweating bullets and his breathing was heavy. He has trained for hours. He started walking away and he didn't notice Hinata at all.

Hinata didn't know how but the only thing she considered herself good this concealing her presence. she could literally erase her presence so well it like she is invisible. Ko praised her once about this telling her how important that skill is for a ninja.

"Naruto," Hinata whispered. "I'm sorry." she finished as she watched Naruto fade out of sight. Hinata clenched her fists violently trying to hold back the tears she felt coming. "Why can't I ever help him." thought Hinata.

Hinata knew what it's like not having any help or support. She also knows the effect it has. For her, since she had poor help and support she has had trouble developing her entire life, for or Naruto since he never has support he tries to do it all himself by trial and error, therefore also slowing his growth significantly both physically and mentally.

Hinata decided it was time to leave and she proceeded to walk home. It was sunset and the orange glow showed throughout the entire village. Hinata had a hobby of going up to the Hokage monuments and watching the sunset from there. Her dream is to one day watch the sunset with Naruto beside her. Hinata sighed at the ridiculous thought.

'Like that could ever happen.' Hinata thought. 'I would be to go to be true if I could sit with him... talk with him... laugh and hold him..' Hinata instantly snapped out of her daydream and pondered what she just thought.

'Why do I keep day reaming about these things,' thought Hinata.

This is a problem Hinata has had for a while now. Hinata at first was curious about the both and then she began to admire him then she greatly admired him then she wanted to be just like him and now...

'What has my admiration evolved into now?" she continued to think. 'Could it be that I really... ?'

"Like him," said Hinata.

"Like who," said a familiar voice. When Hinata turned to see who it was it was, it were the two most popular girls in her class.

Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka.

Sakura and Ino used to be best friends and now they are sworn rivals.

"Huh." said Hinata

"You just said you liked someone Hinata," said Sakura.

"Oh sorry, I was just thinking out loud for a second," said a blushing Hinata. Hinata realized she was in the center of the village and it was bustling with afternoon activity. 'How lost in thought was I?" wondered Hinata.

"Oh come on Hinata. You can tell us who you like. We won't say anything,' finished Ino with a devilish smile.

"Please Ino-pig. Everybody knows you're the Gossip Queen of the Hidden Leaf." Sakura proceeded to do bow to Ino like she was a real queen angering Ino. Hinata couldn't help but giggle.

"Look here billboard brow! At least I don't have the broadest forehead in the Hidden Leaf!" Ino proceeded to check her reflection in Sakura forehead.

The too gave a death glare to each other. They proceeded to throw multiple insults at each other so quickly, Hinata couldn't even follow anymore. As the two were arguing they suddenly stopped and looked behind Hinata. Walking by them was none other than this year's top rookie in the ninja academy.

Sasuke Uchiha.

He didn't as much as glance in their direction but Sakura and Ino were gawking and drooling like he some almighty statue. Hinata simple started.

Hinata never knew why but she always got a weird vibe from Sasuke. Of course Hinata was the only girl who was crazy over him.

Sakura and Ino looked at each other again and fused over Sasuke. "He's mine billboard brow! In your dreams Ino-pig, Cha!"

Hinata knew that the only reason that Ino and Sakura didn't get along well anymore was because they were constantly competing over Sasuke. Hinata really didn't get it. In her opinion the only reason people liked Sasuke because he acts cool and distant, plus he's the last of his clan so girls think of him like a prince.

She thought that girls were only in love with the character with Sasuke they created in their heads and not the real Sasuke.

Hinata did have to admit thought that Sasuke that Sasuke is one of the true geniuses of our generation. He never made any mistakes.

'A true genius, just like him,' thought Hinata. Hinata then pictured her cousin in her mind and she quickly abandoned the picture.

Hinata wanted to talk a little more with Ino and Sakura but saw that they were still at war so she politely bowed and then proceeded home. When Hinata arrived at the Hyuga estate she saw Ko waiting for her at the entrance like always. Since Hinata was old enough to walk around by herself all Ko had to do was make sure she got home safely by waiting at the gate around curfew.

"Hi. Ko," said Hinata

"Nice to see you Lady Hinata, dinner has already been prepared." said Ko who proceeded to respectfully bow.

"I told you Ko. You don't have to..." Hinata froze. She felt this presence watching her she looked to other way to see her cousin leaning against the wall.

Neji Hyuga.

He was giving her a glare like he always did. It's sad because Neji is technically one of Hinata's bodyguards.

Neji despised the main branch family for two reasons. The first is the caged bird seal that Hiashi put on him when he was younger. The second is the event between Hinata's and Neji father who are twin brothers. Hinata was almost kidnapped by a hidden cloud ninja and Hiashi killed him instantly. Unfortunately, this caused unrest among the leaf and the Cloud due to a recently signed peace treaty. They demanded Hiashi's death but Neji father Hizashi took his place instead. Since this Neji has despised the main branch, including Hinata. Neji feels like destiny is determined beforehand and can never be changed. Ko informed Hinata of all this when she asked why Neji hated her so much. Hinata remembered before his father's death he was incredibly kind and carefree.

Neji was, like Sasuke maybe even greater, one of the greatest geniuses of our generation. Despite being in the side branch his talents and potential exceed that of many of the main branch. Hinata and Neji have spared multiple times and Hinata always got dominated. She never hit him once. the worst part is through the thing he would call Hinata a failure and tell her she can never change. Neji also told Hinata she could never be a ninja because she was too nice and gentle.

"You heard Ko, Lady Hinata," said Neji closing his eyes. "Dinners ready."

"Yes." said Hinata who proceeded to walk in with Ko following.

"Lady Hinata,' said Ko. "Please don't mind Neji. He just doesn't understand yet."

"I understand."

"By the way, when you wake up tomorrow I've prepared a new ninja uniform I thought you might like," said Ko. "I would have done it earlier, but it slipped my mind. I know how you like your clothes so I bought some for you."

"You know there is no guarantee I'll pass. I wouldn't want you to waste your money."

"Then I guess you just have to pass." smiled Ko.

"Ko." Hinata always appreciated Ko for his kindness. "What do they look like? Can I see"

"Don't worry, they will be prepared on your desk tomorrow when you wake up."

Hinata nodded then went to the kitchen table where dinner was already set. At the table, like always were, Hiashi and Hanabi. There was an empty chair no one ever touched on the right-hand side. The chair belonged to Hinata's mother before her death. Hiashi commanded that no one remove the chair and that it be constantly dusted and cleaned. Hinata always knew that no matter what her dad loved her mom greatly.

They all ate and as usual it was dead silent. Hiashi never really talked to Hinata since he started training Hanabi. Hanabi never really talked that much anymore period. They all ate then left. Hinata was the last at the table. She was always a slow eater.

When she finished she went to her room and ready for bed. She knew tomorrow would be the graduation test. It would either be on the Clone Jutsu or transformation Jutsu. These Jutsu were simple for Hinata but then she thought about Naruto.

She remembered at school earlier today before she observed Naruto training they all has to do transformation jutsu and Naruto did his infamous Sexy jutsu much to the anger of Iruka. Hinata actually thought it was kind of funny.

'Please, let Naruto pass.'

"Until tomorrow," said Hinata as she closed her eyes.

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**Authors Notes:**

**1) Sorry if these feel like introductory chapters but the action will come soon!**

**2) I wanted to introduce Shikimaru, Kiba, Shino, and Choji in this chapter but I decided to do it in the next.**

**3) If I made any mistakes or you would like to add suggestions please don't be afraid. I'm open to new ideas**


	3. Chapter 3: The Graduation Exam

**Authors Note: When I re-read chapter 2 I was started thinking "Man, I made some mistakes." Of course I was in a hurry so I couldn't perfect it like I wanted, but this chapter will be better.**

**Hinata's mom doesn't really have an official name, so for my story I've decided to give her the name Amane. (I love the name Amane)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does (if I did, Ten Ten would get at least one flashback)**

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Chapter 3: The Graduation Exam

The morning sun shined gracefully over the Hidden Leaf as the ray's hits Hinata's face while she was waking up. Hinata rubbed her eyes then looked out of her window to the sun and smiled.

'I love sun,' thought Hinata. She admired the sun for its warmth and brilliance. To her the sun symbolized life and nourishment every day it rose above the horizon up into the sky. Hinata's habit of loving the sun has been with her all her life. As a matter of fact, it started when she was only a couple of hours old.

Flashback

"Look Hiashi, look at our beautiful little girl." said Amane. Amane was Hinata's mom who had just given birth to her earlier after hours of labor. After the doctors cleaned Hinata and gave her to Amane, she and Hiashi had only one problem left.

"What are we going to name her dear?" said Hiashi smiling at his wife and baby. He started put his fingers in her little hands and watched her try to grab it. "She a quick learner just like her mother, right Amane?" smiled Hiashi.

Amane smiled at her husband as she pondered a good name for her. She wanted a name that would fit her and a name that would show just how much she and her father loved her. As she was still thinking she looked down at Hinata's and saw her actually life her arm up a little towards the window where the sun was shining brightly. When she looked closer she swore she could see her turn her head at the sun slightly and crack her first smile. She glanced at Hiashi and by his look Amane figured he saw it too. A light bulb turned on in Amane's head and suddenly... the name came to her! A name that represented the love she would always have for her little girl.

"Hinata"

Hiashi looked at Amane and then thought about it. "It's a beautiful name dear, but why Hinata? Is it because she seems to like sunlight?"

(Hinata's name means 'place in the sun')

"Yeah, and one more reason..." As the bright rays of the sun blanketed Amane and Hinata face, Amane gave her newly name baby and even brighter smile, closed her eyes while whipping her long dark bluish hair to the side, and cupped her tiny face with her fingers.

"So that our little Hinata knows, no matter how hard her life gets, that she'll always have her place in the sun."

/flashback

Hinata knew that it was her mother's idea to name her Hinata's, as informed by her dad. Hinata tried to hold back the tears even though she knew they would come anyway. Amane was Hinata brightest light in the world. Whenever she would be upset or have a problem, her mother would be right there with the perfect words to say already made in her head. Hinata always aspired to be like her mother in personality, even though it wasn't the classic "Hyuga" personality. Amane also taught Hinata things like art, music, and cooking. She even helped Hinata come up with her favorite phrase that she repeats to herself constantly.

"Self-confidence" or "Jishin"

Truly, Hinata admired and loved her mother more than anything, even Naruto. When Hinata thought of Naruto she suddenly remembered the exams, came to her senses, and wiped away her tears. She got out of bed any performed her everyday morning bathroom routine. When she came out she put on her custom black Hyuga training attire she often wore over her clothes. She did this so that if she suddenly wanted to get some training in she could just take of her top clothes and practice in her Hyuga attire. Hinata was about to wear her favorite long-sleeved, baby blue blouse with a high collar, and dark blue pants when she suddenly remembered that Ko had gotten her a new ninja outfit.

'He said it would be on the dresser...' thought Hinata turning her head towards her dresser. Just like Ko said there were Hinata's new clothes.

There was a cream-colored hooded-jacket with the fire symbol on the upper right and left sleeves and fur around the hem, with navy blue pants. Hinata also saw a brand new kunai holster to attach to her right leg. Hinata smiled and made a mental note to thank Ko later, and then she tried on her new gear.

She adjusted the chin-length strands that framed her face and then looked in the mirror. The outfit fit to her liking and she decided that this would be her ninja outfit.

'I love it.' thought Hinata.

Hinata never was a fan of wearing revealing cloths like the other clothes in her academy. She preferred to wear coats and zipped up blouses or parkas. She also loved wearing dark blue pants because it matched her hair color. Hinata tried stretching and practicing gentle fist movements in her new clothes and they flowed with her body nicely. She took one more last look smiled and then ready to leave. Before Hinata left, she noticed one more object she overlooked on her dresser.

It was a small pouch made with soft wool in the shape of lion with fur around its head to symbolize its mane.

Hinata automatically loved the wallet and put it in her pocket. Hinata favorite animal was in fact a lion. When Hinata first saw a lion she liked how regal and graceful the creature looked and admired its proud and mighty roar. She even studied lions and admired how the parents would always fend and hunt for their baby cubs.

'All this gear is so light,' she thought. 'Ko really knows what he's doing when it comes to ninja gear.' Hinata thought of her trusted bodyguard and smiled.

Hinata started humming a nursery rhyme her mom would sing to her and walked out of her room and into the kitchen. She ate her breakfast and thanked the cook with a smile like she always did and walked towards the courtyard. Before she could cross the courtyard to go out of the gate on the other side, she saw her father sipping tea on the step.

"Your graduation exam is today, correct Hinata?" said Hiashi.

"Yes." replied Hinata.

"I trust you won't embarrass our clan today by failing such a simple test." said Hiashi taking another sip of his tea.

"Yes," Hinata replied again.

She ran across the courtyard out the gate, eager to escape that situation. Hinata was used to being talked to like that by pretty much everyone. It still hurt her anyway. As she was running she saw Ko walking back towards the Hyuga Estate and stopped to thank him.

"Lady Hinata, I see the new gear fits." Ko said.

"Yeah, I love the new clothes a lot. I also like the lion wallet you got me to."

"Hmm, lion wallet? I didn't get you any wallet Lady Hinata"

"But then, where did it come from?" said Hinata pulling out the lion wallet. "Somebody had to put it there."

"Sorry Lady Hinata but I don't know where it came from. However, it does look familiar. It feels like I've seen it someone with it." Ko began to look at the sky signaling that he was thinking but then closed his eyes and Hinata knew that he had given up.

"It's okay Ko," said Hinata. "There's nothing dangerous about it and someone else in the clan must have given it to me so I'll keep it and asks around when I get home." Hinata couldn't think of anyone besides Ko that would give her a gift, even if it was as simple as a wallet.

"Ok then, I have to go. Good look on the exam Lady Hinata, not that you'll need it." Ko bowed and then proceeded on his walk and Hinata did the same.

Hinata arrived at the academy and hurried to Iruka sensei's class. When she walked in she saw the usual conversations and horseplay that went on before class. Hinata didn't really take part. She usually assumed her seat in the back and waited for class to start. She walked to her seat to sit down but saw somebody already there.

Shino Aburame.

Hinata was horrified because there were a bunch a tiny insect where she would put her arms. She saw multiple bugs crawling all over the place. She wanted to scream and go get the nearest emergency insect repellent. Since the Hyuga Estate was always kept clean Hinata wasn't used to things like roaches and spiders.

"You shouldn't fear my insects." said Shino still looking down. "That's because these insects are docile"

Hinata sighed and then calmly said, "Um...Shino...why aren't you sitting where you usually sit?" Hinata politely pointed to the middle left section of the room where Shino usually sat.

"I found it to be more suitable to sit in the back." said Shino who still didn't look at Hinata. "That's because it is warmer here in the back for my insects."

"Um... this is kind of where I sit so... could you maybe find another spot... please?"

"Sure," Hinata was silently hoped he wouldn't prove himself, to no avail. "That's because there are other spots I can use that are just as warm for my insects." The insect crawled under Shino sleeves much to Hinata discomfort and then walked over to the far side of the room and resumed observing his insects.

Hinata sighed once again at that whole situation. Hinata never could understand Shino. When she first saw him she saw that he didn't really talk either so she figured that maybe he was sort of an outcast, like her and Naruto. When she talked to him once when they were partnered up she asked him a random question about butterflies. He literally gave a three-hour lecture on butterflies while justifying all his facts, at the same time. Hinata never thought that a person could die from boredom but she promises that she came close to it that day. The funny thing about it is Hinata got tons of boring lectures about politics at home and they weren't even as unbearable as Shino's lectures. Since then Hinata realized that Shino wasn't self-conscious at all. He was actually a very talented student.

Hinata sat down hesitantly, afraid there would be more insects around, and observed the class. She saw Sakura and Ino in the middle of a group of girls gossiping and talking about the latest fashions. Someone accidentally mentioned Sasuke and it turned into and all out Sasuke fan girl brawl. Hinata heard so many insults from the girls; she felt dirty just being near them. There were insults Hinata had never even heard, and Hinata had a very wide vocabulary.

Hinata turned her attention to a group of three boys all messing around.

Kiba Inuzuka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi.

Hinata actually liked these three because they were the only kids that never made fun of Naruto. They would actually hang out on the playground sometimes. However, the only reason they know each other is because Iruka would always give them detention because they never did their work. Naruto would never do it because he was too busy pulling his pranks. Kiba would never do it because he was usually asleep. Shikamaru would never do it because he was just plain lazy. Choji would never do it because he never has time because he's too busy eating.

'The four of them would make a great team,' thought Hinata giggling at her own joke.

"Shut up Kiba, just listening to you is to troublesome." said Shikamaru.

"Hey, you better watch it Shikamaru or I'll get my ferocious dog Akamaru to chase you after school. "said Kiba.

"You mean that little plush toy you call a dog? I'm shaking."

"He's a big ferocious man-eating beast when he gets angry, just like me," said Kiba as he started putting up his hands and snarling like a wild animal. "Isn't that right Choji?"

"Munch, Munch, Munch." Choji was too busy eating his chips to even hear the two.

"Hey! Choji." said Shikamaru. "Do you ever stop eating?"

Choji thought about and then paused and finally said, 'When I'm thirsty, then I get some soda. That counts right?"

"Geez Choji you really are a fata-," started Kiba and Shikamaru, as quick as lightning, puts his hand over Kiba's mouth. Choji stopped chewing and looked at the two.

"What were you going to say?" said Choji with a scary glare. Kiba tried to think of what to say.

"Um I was going to say you really are a fantastic person to be around!" said Kiba giving his best fake smile.

"Oh. Thank you Kiba." Choji proceeded to open a new bag of chips and eat four at a time, the usual pace.

Shikamaru and Kiba sighed in relief. Everyone knew if you ever said the forbidden word to Choji... it get ugly... fast.

Hinata giggled at the funny scene she just saw. She had to admit that she sure had an entertaining classroom.

'Part of me is going to miss this.' she thought.

As she was thinking she heard a familiar voice and her heart almost popped out of her chest. Naruto had popped in the door in the usual fashion. He was walking really confidently and brandished his goggles on his forehead. Hinata blushed. She thought the goggles were kind of cute on him.

"Look everyone, it's the future Hokage," teased a random kid. Everyone in the classroom proceeded to laugh, except Hinata of course.

"I am going to be the next future Hokage! It starts today when I finally become a Genin!"

"Yeah right, the only way you could pass is if the test were on the Sexy Jutsu or maybe the Being Stupid Jutsu. Hey guys, Naruto will do something special, he'll be the first Hokage ever to be enrolled at the ninja academy." The class burst into hysterical laughter as Naruto glared at them and went to his seat.

It wasn't often Hinata felt angry, but she was felling it now. She wanted so bad to tell everyone to be quite and stop bullying Naruto. Who were they to tell him what he could and couldn't do? Who were they to always put him down? At least he actually has a goal for himself unlike most of the kids here. He probably is going to end up being stronger than all of you and me when it's sad and done. He is going to show all of you!

Hinata wanted to say all of this but she knew she couldn't. It wasn't in her to rant so openly and spontaneously. She simply just helplessly stared at Naruto in sadness as he tried to ignore the insults being thrown his way.

After a few minutes Iruka sensei appeared and the class quieted down and took their seats.

"Okay class first I'd like to start by saying it was a pleasure having you all in my class," said Iruka with a smile. "I honestly believed that you all will go on to do special things in the future."

"Don't worry Iruka sensei, when I become Hokage I'll make sure to mention my academy teacher." said Naruto enthusiastically.

Hinata could hear some people struggling not to laugh but she admired his tenacity, like always.

"Thanks Naruto, I look forward to it," said Iruka. "Now, we will begin the graduation exam. When you hear your name called, proceed to the testing area at once. This year's exam is going to be on the Clone Jutsu."

Hinata looked at Naruto and noticed his discomfort.

Hinata cursed herself for not helping him with that Jutsu. She knew he had struggled greatly with making a clone. 'If only I could gather the courage to talk to him...'

'Naruto... do your best.' thought Hinata.

Hinata waited as she heard names being called to go take the test. Hinata wished they would just call her name so she could get it over. She wasn't worried about herself as much as she was worried about Naruto. She would be really sad if Naruto couldn't graduate with her, especially knowing that she could have done something about it beforehand even she wasn't so nervous around him.

'Please, don't let Naruto fail because I am not strong enough to support him yet,' thought Hinata.

After a few more minutes Hinata finally heard her named called and walked to the test room where Iruka and Mizuki sensei where sitting at a desk. She step in the middle of the open space and faced them. Hinata rarely ever saw Mizuki in school. He seemed like a nice man to Hinata. He would always support and encourage his students to do better, just like Iruka.

"Hinata Hyuga." said Mizuki. "You're one of the top of your class, truly a good student. Your marks are outstanding and you have no history of behavior problems." finished Mizuki.

"Hinata is one of my best and kindest students," said Iruka with a smile. "No problems here."

Hinata wasn't complimented very often. When she was complemented she would always smile and blush with embarrassment.

"Thank you," she said bowing.

"Okay Hinata," said Iruka. "Anytime you're ready."

"Yes."

Hinata made the hand seal and quickly began focusing her chakra until she finally said, "Clone Jutsu!" Hinata, almost instantly, made four perfect clones of herself all standing side by side. Making clones were easy for Hinata because her Gentle Fist training helped her develop excellent chakra control

"Excellent." said Iruka. "I don't think there is any reason we shouldn't pass you. Congratulations Hinata, you pass!"

The clones disappeared and Hinata smiled and felt very proud of herself for passing.

'Are you watching mother?' thought Hinata. 'I promise that this is only the first step!"

"Come get your headband." said Iruka as he held one up.

Hinata grabbed her headband then she wondered where she would wear it. You normally wear it around your head but Hinata made up her mind the wear it around her neck. She fastened it around her neck and it felt perfect. She has finally graduated!

"You really are a good student," said Mizuki. "I almost wish you would have been in my class"

"Sorry Mizuki but this one is mine. Hinata you'll be assigned to your team tomorrow, so make sure to come."

"Yes." said Hinata as she began to walk out. She suddenly stopped and she clenched her fists. 'I wonder if I can still help Naruto...' she thought.

'Iruka sensei, Mizuki sensei."

"Yes Hinata." said Iruka.

Hinata felt the blood rush to her head and her heartbeat increase dramatically. But she was determined this time to help Naruto. She was determined to support him however she could. Hinata only wanted to say a few things but her words started coming out on their own.

"I know Naruto probably won't be able to create good clones but I beg you to pass him because he tries his absolute hardest every day and he never gives up so I think that she qualify him to be a good ninja!" gasped Hinata.

Hinata's face was super red and she was breathing hard from the spontaneous outburst. Iruka and Mizuki looked at her in shock and Hinata wasn't much better. It wasn't her intention to say all that or be that loud but it had all come out. Hinata was extremely shocked she didn't stutter through any of that. If Hinata didn't stop herself sooner she probably would have told them about her recent feelings for him and how she greatly admired him also.

"Um... Hinata... I know Naruto struggles... and I understand but we still have to grade him." said Iruka still shock. 'Hinata has never talked like that before,' thought Iruka. 'Could it be she actually has feeling for Naruto?'

Mizuki was speechless at the sudden outburst from the quiet well-behaved student.

"Y-Y-Yes... g-g-goodbye." said Hinata as she quickly bowed and ran out before she said anything else.

Hinata still was really red. She was trying to catch her breath but she was still in shock in what she just did. For the first time she spoke out for Naruto. Not to mention she did it spontaneously! Nothing Hinata did was ever spontaneous.

'I can't believe I said all that,' thought Hinata. 'If only I could do that all the time she thought. I hope nobody else heard all that.'

Hinata calmed herself down while her heartbeat returned to normal and her face color returned. When she finally calmed down she began to leave until she heard the next name.

"Next, Naruto Uzumaki!"

She froze as Naruto walked in her direction to the room sporting his famous smile with his eyes closed.

'Oh, hay Hinata," said Naruto. Naruto eyes caught her headband. "Wow! You passed! Congratulations Hinata." Naruto started touching Hinata's headband and shaking her hand to congratulate her. It took every single ounce of Hinata willpower not to faint right then and there. She was getting dizzy and she felt her calmness burn into ashes.

'Oh no.' she thought. 'Please don't faint. Please don't faint.'

She was going to faint until Naruto said, "Well, better go get my headband. Later Hinata!"

Naruto walked into the test room and Hinata let out a huge sigh at the sudden return of her calmness.

'That was to close,' she thought. When Hinata was about to enter the room that same feeling from earlier took over and she wanted to say something.

"G-G-Good luck N-N-Naruto!" Hinata blurted out. Naruto looked over in her direction. First he stared at her with wide eyes.

'Did she just wish me luck?' thought Naruto in wonder. "Heh thanks Hinata. Well I better get going!" He smiled and waved and then walked into the test room. Hinata was about to leave when her interest got the better of her. She looked back.

'This is wrong... but.' Hinata thought.

Hinata closed her eyes focused and then said, "Byakugan!"

Hinata knew that using her Kekkei Genkai or Bloodline trait to spy on people was forbidden but she just had to see how Naruto would do. The Byakugan was an eye technique that gave her eyes the ability of not only near 360 degrees of vision (with the exception of a small blind spot at the upper thoracic vertebrae), but also got x-ray vision. It was her prestigious and famed clan's eye Jutsu similar to the Uchihas and the Sharingan.

She used her new vision to see through the walls and try to find out how Naruto was doing. The Byakugan is so precise that she could even tell facial expressions with it. When Naruto was about to use the Jutsu for a second Hinata looked at Mizuki's face and thought she saw...

Anger and extreme hatred.

This only lasted a second so Hinata figured she imagined it and she went back to looking at Naruto. He had already used the Clone Jutsu and...

The same cartoony looking clone she saw him use against those bullies appeared, and just like then Hinata gave the same comedic face to it. Iruka looked angry and Mizuki looked like he was on the verge of laughing. The clone disappeared and Naruto scratched the back of his head to look as innocent as possible but he knew what was coming.

Hinata started to feel tears coming as she thought, 'Please, please let Iruka sensei understand Naruto's hardships and pass him. Please tell me my words were not in vain.' she hoped.

She took one last look and Iruka lips said the words that made both Hinata's and Naruto's hearts sink at the same time.

"You fail!"

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**Authors Notes:**

**1) I figured I could let Hinata used the Byakugan for the first time even though it wasn't action related.**

**2) If you're wondering why the last members of the Konoha 11 were not introduced, Hinata did not met them until the Chunin Exams.**

**3) If I made any mistakes or you would like to add suggestions please don't be afraid. I'm always open to new ideas.**


	4. Chapter 4: Truth

**Authors Note: I'm grateful for those who have read so far, I hope you keep reading!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does (if I did, you would have seen a ton more of Hinata in the series)**

**Chapter 4: The Truth**

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Hinata wanted to fall to her knees, cry, and then run into the test room to defend Naruto. She didn't think it was fair that just because he was struggling with one Jutsu, that he be held back another year. She desperately wanted Naruto to graduate with her. That way there could be a chance they would be on the same team. Even if they weren't, Hinata would have been happy being in the same graduating class as him. She was about to suck up all her fears and rush in to defend Naruto when Mizuki started speaking.

"Iruka," said Mizuki. "I know he didn't make a good clone but he did hang in there and replicate. Plus, based on his other results his physical coordination and stamina have improved greatly over the years. This is his third try so I say we could cut Naruto a break and let him pass."

Naruto automatically had an enthusiastic face towards Mizuki and Hinata did the same.

'Mizuki is defending Naruto!' thought Hinata. 'Please Iruka sensei; agree with him and let Naruto pass.'

"Mizuki," said Iruka. "All of the other students could successfully create three or more clones with ease. Naruto could only create one. And look at it, its pitiful. I understand Naruto situation, but as his teacher I just can't pass him yet."

Hinata's heart sank as she heard the last words from Iruka. Hinata always liked Iruka. He was one of the few teachers that were willing to put up with Naruto's pranks, but she felt some anger towards him. Naruto had tried his best and Mizuki was even on board with passing Naruto but Iruka stayed firm to his decision. Hinata just didn't feel it was fair towards Naruto because of his struggles out of the classroom, and in the classroom. The least Iruka could do is give him another chance or another Jutsu to be tested on.

Hinata Byakugan was still activated, allowing her to see Naruto clench his fists in anger and disappointment. She could see he wanted so bad to defend himself but sucked it up and started walking out of the classroom with his head down in defeat. Hinata quickly deactivated her Byakugan and ran down the hallway cutting corners until she was at the academy's entrance. She saw a bunch of other students celebrating with their parents and siblings.

Hinata started to feel sad, looking at the happy kids with their families. She knew that Ko was too busy today to come and she didn't even count the possibility of her father and sister coming to see her. Hinata started thinking of her mother and how she would have waited outside the academy doors until Hinata came out. She thought about how she would see her headband, give her one of her beautiful smiles, and hug her nice and tightly. Hinata started to feel the tears coming again until she saw Naruto walk out the academy.

Everybody quieted down and made a path for him to walk like he was a dangerous virus. Hinata could hear people mutter and whisper as he walked past. Naruto's head was down as he was carrying his goggles in his hand. He walked over to the old wooden swing that he swung on often. As soon as he was gone everybody resumed their conversations. He sat down and Hinata saw him glance over at everybody smiling and happy. Hinata saw Naruto give the saddest face she had ever seen, causing Hinata heart to ache. She wanted so terribly to run over to him and hug him while telling him everything would be okay. However, Hinata knew she could only daydream about this because she knew she would freeze up and act like a huge spaz.

Hinata clenched her fists in anger at her weakness. 'I wish I could talk to him.' she pleaded to herself. Hinata then began to hear a conversation that caught her attention because it was about Naruto. It was two girls that looked like they were around sixteen. They were both giving hateful glares to him.

"He's over there, you see him." said one of the girls staring at Naruto.

"It's that boy," said the other girl. "I hear he's the only one that failed."

"Heh serves him right."

"Just imagine what would happen if he became a ninja. I mean he's the boy who..."

"Shhhh! We are not allowed to talk about that."

'Talk about what?' Hinata wondered. No matter what it is, she still didn't think it was right for everybody to hate Naruto so much. Hinata has watched Naruto for years and she could never figure out why people resented him so bad. Of course he plays pranks, but it started before that. She never saw him hurt anybody or steal something.

In many ways Hinata compared Naruto to herself.

They were both by themselves, without choice, most of the time. They both were always put down and ridiculed by most. She even thought it was ironic how they are both the youngest of their genders in the entire class, plus they both were the shortest and the lightest of their genders. Hinata laughed the first time she found this out. Point is, no matter how hard Hinata tried she could never find a legitimate reason to hate Naruto.

She stared back at Naruto and she suddenly saw Mizuki pop up on a branch. Naruto at first was shocked but then he said some words to Naruto and then they both started walking deeper in the village. Hinata spirits began to rise. She figured maybe Iruka realized he made a mistake and sent Mizuki to tell Naruto he passed. Hinata got excited and started following but then paused.

'If I'm wrong and it's personal, I don't want to hear something by mistake,' thought Hinata.

The only time Hinata watched Naruto is if he was training alone or sometimes when they were in class. Hinata tries not to go overboard and not wierdly stalk him where ever he went. Hinata would only want to watch Naruto if she was worried or when she would watch him train through pure determination, which inspired her. She keeps hoping that one day that she can finally get the courage to actually talk to him and tell him how she admires him.

She started to change her mind but the curiosity was killing her. She decided to follow but if it seemed like it was something personal she leave immediately. She than began to follow their direction. She tracked them down and found them sitting on the back porch of a house looking at the sunset and positioned herself so she could hear them but also keep silent. Hinata silently blessed her skills to blend in the background.

"Iruka may seem harsh, but he only wants what is best for you." said Mizuki.

"But why only me." replied Naruto.

"He wants you to be a very strong ninja, but knows that will never happen if he takes it easy on you. Iruka is like you in many ways. No parents or family."

"But, this time, I really wanted to graduate." said Naruto looking down. Mizuki took a look at Naruto.

"Heh...I guess I have to tell you..."

"Huh." said Naruto with an intrigued look.

"It a big secret, but I'm willing to let you in on it."

Naruto was totally intrigued. Hinata was a little suspicious.

'A secret?' she thought. 'Is it some secret way to pass the test or something? Why would something like that even exist?' Hinata continued to ponder the subject when she heard Mizuki continued to speak.

"All you have to do is get this special hidden scroll." Hinata glanced and noticed that Mizuki seemed to be trying to hide a smile. "I'll tell you where the scroll is and then you have to master the Jutsu written on the scroll in a secluded spot where I'll also tell you. You do all this, and you will pass for sure."

Naruto looked incredibly happy as he was giving complements to Mizuki for being so great. Hinata was now incredibly suspicious. This all seems a little weird.

'What good would having a secret scroll do if the students would never be allowed to be told about it? Plus, if Naruto does get, it won't Mizuki get in trouble. Does he really care about Naruto that much that he would put his job on the line?' These thoughts kept going around Hinata's head in a cycle until she finally decide that she would continue to follow Naruto and learn just how legit this is.

Hinata was trailing Naruto for what felt like an hour. At this point Naruto and Mizuki split up and Naruto continued to his secret destination. When he finally stopped he was standing in front of a random building and went inside a specific window on the side. Instead of going inside Hinata activated her Byakugan so see what Naruto was doing. From the look he was going into so basement and Hinata couldn't see him anymore.

'Something in that basement is blocking my Byakugan!' she thought. It took powerful seals and incantations to block the Byakugan's vision. Hinata knew whatever was in the basement was extremely important. 'Now I'm really starting to get suspicious. Why would they make a scroll so secure if its purpose was only to help a person graduate to a Genin? From the seals strength I can tell that someone of Jonin our Anbu level set those. And how in the world did Naruto go in their undetected?

Before Hinata could think on the subject anymore, Naruto came jumping out the window he entered with a big scroll attached to his back and proceeded to jump across the rooftops towards the woods. Hinata followed while still trying to be discreet while attempting to study the scroll with her Byakugan. However, just like that basement, the scrolls contents were hidden from the Byakugan.

'Is this scroll so important that even the scroll itself has to be hidden from the Byakugan?" thought Hinata. 'What is going on?'

He kept going and until he entered the woods and started jumping the trees. At this point the sun has been down for hours and Hinata knew it was way past her curfew.

She knew she there would be a search party out soon and when they found her she would get a scolding from both her father and the Hyuga Council. But she didn't care.

Naruto was potentially in some danger and she had to confirm his safety no matter what.

Naruto finally stopped in an open space with an abandoned wooden hut by it. He sat down cross-legged and started smiling and humming like he had taken a million secret scrolls before this. He opened the scroll then began reading the contents of it. He did this for several minutes while Hinata continued to see, wondering if she should finally intervene. She didn't want to just yet because she wasn't entirely sure the scroll wasn't what Mizuki said it was.

"Let's see... the first Jutsu is... Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu," said Naruto. "Crap! The Clone Jutsu again...but it's my worst Jutsu!"

'Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu?' Hinata thought. She knew what it was but she couldn't remember what was so special about it. 'Where did I hear it?'

While Hinata thought Naruto began practicing the Jutsu with the great vigor Hinata had ever seen him do. Hinata smiled at his determination.

'He really does never give up,' she thought while smiling. 'I really do believe that he's on his way to becoming Hoka..."

When Hinata thought of the word Hokage she opened her eyes wide and she began to put the pieces of this mystery together.

'I finally remember!' thought Hinata. 'The Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu is and advanced version of the regular Clone Jutsu. It was created by the Second Hokage. The Jutsu was later misused by rogue ninja, causing it to be banned. When Jutsu are banned they are usually kept in secret scrolls and sealed somewhere. That why my Byakugan couldn't read it! Mizuki tricked Naruto into stealing a forbidden scroll!'

Hinata connected all the dots and then realized the situation that Naruto was now in. The punishment for something like this was severe, even for kids. Not to mention that Mizuki knew this would happen. All this meant one thing Hinata concluded. Naruto was in danger!

When she looked back at Naruto he was breathing hard from all the training. Hinata was about to run to him and tell him the situation but...

Iruka beat her to the punch.

He landed in front of Naruto without noticing Hinata. He looked incredible fatigued and angry while Naruto gave his usual smile and scratched his head in innocence.

"It's all over, Heh Heh." said Iruka.

"Heh caught me already, not bad," said Naruto laughing. "You're quick sensei; I only had time to learn one technique." Iruka looked confused and then he noticed how ragged Naruto clothes looked, signaling he had trained this whole time. "Listen Iruka sensei, I'm going to show you this amazing Jutsu, then you are going to let me graduate and everything will be okay! That's how it works right? Anyone who learns a Jutsu from this scroll passes!"

Iruka looked confused. "Who told you that?"

"Mizuki sensei! He told me all about this scroll and this place. He even told me how to get in and out without being setting of any traps!"

Iruka shocked face confirmed Hinata hypothesis. Mizuki had set up Naruto so that he could get the scroll himself. Hinata cursed herself for not acting on her suspicions sooner and warning Naruto. To her it should have been obvious when she discovered the powerful seals that could block the Byakugan's vision. It seemed to her when she tried to help Naruto she would fail.

As she was thinking she saw multiple kunai being thrown at Iruka and Naruto's direction. Before she could warn them Iruka pushed Naruto out of harms why and endured the kunai. He got pierced in his leg and the kunai had pinned his ninja outfit to the wooden hut. Hinata could tell the wound in his leg wasn't vital.

"So, that's how it is...Mizuki." All three of them looked up at the direction from where the kunai was thrown, and there was Mizuki sitting on a tree branch. He was in his full gear with giant shuriken attached to his back.

"Naruto, give me that scroll." said Mizuki.

"Wait, wait... what is going on here?" said Naruto trying to understand the situation. Hinata knew he was probably totally confused and doesn't know the situation he is in.

"Naruto!" said Iruka ripping the kunai out of his leg. "Never give him that scroll! It has forbidden Jutsu that could put the village at risk! Mizuki used you to get the scroll himself, for his own benefit."

"Naruto, Iruka is just trying to scare you because he does not want you to have the scroll," said Mizuki. Naruto looked like he was trying to decide what to do.

"He is lying Naruto!"

"Ha Ha Ha! Naruto... how about I tell you who the real deceivers are?" Mizuki was smiling hard like this is something he's wanted to say for a long time. Hinata wondered what it could be.

"No Mizuki!"

"They have been lying to you your whole life Naruto, since the decree twelve years ago."

"Everyone knows except for you. Iruka is trying to hide it from you even now. He would do anything to shut me up."

"What is this decree and why does everyone know about it?" Hinata wondered about this decree to. She had never heard about anything like that.

"Don't tell him, its forbidden!" screamed Iruka. Mizuki made the most sinister smile yet.

"You know about the huge disaster that happened twelve years ago when the Fourth Hokage died protecting the village right?" said Mizuki. "The Nine-Tailed fox attacked the village killing tons of people, including Iruka's parents."

Hinata had heard about the Nine-Tailed Fox. She knew that the fox demon went on a random rampage in the village and the Fourth Hokage had to sacrifice his life to stop the horrible beast. She wondered how that had to do with anything. Why was Mizuki bringing this up and why is Iruka pleading with him to stop talking?

The next words Mizuki said was a moment that both Hinata and Naruto would never forget for the rest of their lives.

"The fox demon that destroyed our village and killed Iruka's parents is sealed inside of your body! Everyone knew about it except for you. That's why everyone hates you so much." Mizuki started laughing at his own words. When he stopped he continued.

"That's right Naruto... you are the Nine-Tailed fox!"

* * *

**Authors Notes**

**1. I love ending chapters with like that. With the main character learning a shocking truth.**

**2. Hinata following Naruto around seemed like the only way I could include her in this without changing the real event to bad. Sorry if I made her seem to hesitant or naive.**

**3. 3) If I made any mistakes or you would like to add suggestions please don't be afraid. I'm always open to new ideas.**


	5. Chapter 5: Truth Part 2

**Authors Note: If you haven't noticed already, I joke around with the disclaimer note by saying what I would do with the real Naruto story if I owned it. If ****one of them made you laugh then, mission accomplished! If not then... darn, maybe next time.**

**Also I've decide that I am going to start using honorifics at the end of names, like Naruto-kun. However I'm still going to keep Lady Hinata, it sounds better than Hinata-sama.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does (if I did, we would have seen Iruka use fire style jutsu)**

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Chapter 5: The Truth Part 2

There have been only been a few times in Hinata's life where she experienced true disbelief.

This was one of them.

Time had seemed to stop to Hinata and Naruto. Naruto was in a total state of shock and Hinata wasn't much better. Hinata wanted to just cover her ears and pretend she didn't hear what Mizuki said, but it was already branded into her brain.

"That's right Naruto... you are the Nine-Tailed fox!" To make matters worse, she started to believe him.

Over the years Hinata has observed Naruto being bullied to no end by other kids, but she always wondered why adults had also treated Naruto with contempt. It was safe to assume that the reason kids at school picked on Naruto was because he's a class clown and he commonly pulls monkey-tricks. However, it was a different story with the adults around the village. Hinata knew that most of the villagers treated him badly, but not like the kids. They treated him like a monster or a plague. It wasn't bullying Hinata saw... it was more like hatred and fear.

'It just can't be.' thought Hinata trying to convince herself. Unfortunately, Hinata's reasoning skills started to connect the dots by themselves.

It all made sense.

The reason older people treated Naruto with such hatred. The reason any kids don't know about this. The reason the Nine-Tails had suddenly disappeared without a trace.

As a matter of fact Hinata thought about the stripes on Naruto's face. At first she thought that he would always just draw them on, but she figured out that they were actually a natural part of his face. She also thought about the Nine-Tails and how it is originally a fox. The stripes on Naruto face do actually look kind of fox-like the more she thought about it.

'Is that really were it comes from?' thought Hinata.

Hinata kept trying to think of ways this could be false... but she couldn't.

Based on Hinata's knowledge about sealing Jutsu's and how Naruto has been treated by the village, it all began to come together like a jigsaw puzzle. Hinata had no idea what to feel. Of course she could never hate Naruto, but it did make her look at him in a different light. It made her feel even more sorry for him because it confirmed that he had no idea that why the village originally started hating him.

Hinata began to hear Mizuki speak again and snapped out of her daze as time seemed to flow normally again.

"They have been hiding this from you your whole life! Didn't you ever think it was strange how you were treated? Like dirt, like they hated you for existing!"

"No... No! No! No! No Nooooo!" screamed Naruto. Tears began going down his eyes and Hinata's heart broke as she could feel his intense sadness and frustration tear threw her as if it was palpable. All she wanted to do at that point was run and comfort him, but she knew it would do no good to show her place. She then thought about running to the village for help, but she doubted that she would make it in time. Plus even if she did make it in time, she would probably be questioned thoroughly about how she knew this and why she was out past curfew.

"Naruto..." said Iruka.

"That's why you will never be accepted in this village! Even your kind-hearted sensei hates your very presence!" Iruka looked like he wanted to argue but was distracted by the deep cut in his leg. For the first time in Hinata's life she began feeling intense hatred. If she wasn't so good at controlling herself, she would have activated her Byakugan and launched herself at Mizuki by now.

"Naruto..." said Mizuki as he grabbed one of the giant shurikens on his back. "No one will ever acknowledge you! Now die!" Mizuki spun the shuriken at a high speed and threw it at Naruto's direction. Naruto started to move but due to the shock he was still in he simply gave up and ducked his head hoping he was in a bad dream.

"Naruto, get down!" said Iruka.

Once again time slowed down in Hinata's mind. She felt another emotion in her but it wasn't hatred. It was the need to protect. It was like when a mother feels the need to protect one of her kids. Like the need for somebody to defend what is precious to them. Hinata was literally a second from jumping from the bushes when she saw Iruka had already beat her to it. He used his body to shield Naruto from the giant shuriken, but the shuriken had pierced Iruka in the back leaving a deep cut. Iruka coughed up blood as Naruto looked at him in shock. Even Mizuki looked confused.

"Why?" said Naruto.

"Because... we're the same." replied Iruka. "When I lost my parents, no one seemed to care about me. It's like I turned invisible. My grades dropped sharply.

I became the class clown... because I wanted people to notice me, to know my name. I did stupid things... and I had to pay for it. It was hard. I know that's how you feel Naruto. You feel lonely and it hurts inside." At this point, tears began to fall from Irukas face as Naruto was still listening. "I know I could have been there for you more. I let you down... I'm sorry. Nobody should suffer that much, no one should have to go through that.'

Hinata was surprised by Iruka's speech. She could tell that he was being totally sincere. She realized just how alike Iruka is to Ko. Hinata even got reminded of her mom because she would speak in the same sincere way. Hinata gained absolute respect for her teacher.

"Don't make me laugh!" interrupted Mizuki. "Iruka always despised and hated you. He was orphaned because of the Nine-Tails and that beast is now sealed inside of you. He would do anything to get that scroll back."

Naruto looked like he was thinking and then he suddenly got up and ran away.

"Naruto!" screamed Iruka. "Narutoooo!"

"Ha you know once that boy makes up his mind, there is no changing it." said Mizuki. "I would put money on it that he is going to use that scroll to destroy the village out of revenge. You saw his eyes right? Those were the eyes of a demon."

"No..." said Iruka taking the giant shuriken out of his back. "Naruto... isn't... like that!" Iruka threw the shuriken at Mizuki but he easily dodged as the shuriken flew past his head.

"You're a joke. As soon as I kill Naruto and take the scroll, I'll be back for you." Mizuki jumped onto a tree and went in Naruto's direction.

Hinata wanted to help Iruka but decided that Naruto was in more danger. She wasted no time activating her Byakugan and racing towards Naruto. Hinata thought about Mizuki words when he said Naruto was on his way to take revenge against the village. He said he had the eyes of the demon. Hinata refused to believe that nonsense. Sure, she accepted that Naruto was the container for the Nine-Tails. Despite that, she would never accept the statement the Naruto would intentionally attack the Leaf Village. She focused her Byakugan more to expand her range even further and found Naruto sitting in an open space on the ground. Naturally, because it was Naruto, her subconscious caused her to hesitate. She paused for a moment and then used all of her will to surge forward.

"N-Naruto-kun!" said Hinata. Hinata wanted to kick herself for stuttering in this situation. It seems that not even all this could stop nervous mode from activating. She had started pushing her index fingers together, her feet pointed towards each other and don't forget the blushing. Thank goodness Naruto was too naive to notice she said to herself.

"Hinata?" said Naruto standing up. Upon closer inspection Hinata could see he was still upset. "Why are you here?"

"Um..." said Hinata. She tried to think of a good story fast. She defiantly didn't want to tell him that she has been tracking him the entire time or that she overheard Mizuki telling him that his body contained the Nine-Tails. It was hard to think around Naruto but she came up with something.

"Y-You see... I was training in the forest and..." paused Hinata trying to look convincing and not to stutter. It was hard because she found it difficult to look him those blue eyes of his. "T-T-Then I started hearing strange sounds so I went to see what was. When I arrived I saw Iruka sensei hurt and I overheard

Mizuki said he was going to hurt you... or something. I-I went to look for you so I could warn you and I found you here."

"Oh, okay then."

Hinata felt bad that she lied but she didn't really expect for Naruto to act suspicious. Of course it could be that he was still in such disbelief that he just didn't care. Hinata was relieved because not only did her false story have some obvious holes in it, but she stuttered and failed to make eye contact the entire time. Hinata made a mental note never to become a criminal or she would get busted for sure.

"N-Naruto-kun, we really need to leave. Mizuki is approaching us fast. The only reason I even managed to get to you first is because of my Byakugan."

"Byakugan?" said Naruto in wonder. Hinata wouldn't have minded explaining but they were really running out of time.

"There's no time to explain," replied Hinata. "We must get back to the village." Naruto looked at her then he looked back down.

"Sorry Hinata, but I don't think I have a place in the village anymore. I think I'm just going to leave." Hinata jumped back at this. She had never heard Naruto talk like this before. It was like he just gave up on everything he said he was going to do. Hinata was so taken aback by the thought of

Naruto leaving that she forgot that she was nervous.

"Naruto-kun...you can't leave. What happened to trying to be Hokage? Isn't it your dream?"

Naruto looked like he started thinking but he merely shook his head and looked back down.

"Hinata...if you knew the truth about me, you would try to get as far away from me as possible, and honestly I wouldn't blame you."

Hinata wanted to disagree immediately. She could never imagine actual abandoning Naruto. Even though she knew the truth now, her feelings and admiration have not faltered a bit. He was Naruto and that would never change to Hinata.

"You're wrong Naruto-kun... I wouldn't abandon any of my comrades, no matter what. There is nothing you could tell me that would make me condemn you.' Naruto looked at Hinata again but this time he didn't look back down.

"How can you be so sure?" How do you know the truth about me wouldn't scare you so bad, you would never want to see me again? How do you know if I'm even worthy of being someone's comrade? How come you won't just avoid me like everyone else?"

Hinata's blush had returned. Even though they were in a bad situation she still couldn't call up the courage to tell him everything. She thought about it and decided if she didn't tell him everything now, he may not believe her and lose faith in the village .

"It's because I..." Hinata paused. "It's because..." She paused again but this time it was because she heard noise and so did Naruto. She used her Byakugan to look around and saw Mizuki talking to Iruka who was leaning against a tree. There must have been a clash, Hinata figured, and they ended up landing close to her and Naruto. They were really close so Naruto and Hinata instinctively hid behind separate trees, and listened to the conversation.

"Why are you protecting that freak?" said Mizuki. "He is the one who destroyed your family Iruka."

"I don't care what you say," said Iruka. "You're not getting your hands on that scroll Mizuki."

"Hmm, as if you could stop me. Don't you get it? Me and Naruto are the same. He wants the scroll for his own power and his own vengeance. That's how beast are of course. He's going to pour all his rage and hatred into that scroll and annihilate everything."

"You're absolutely right..." said Iruka.

Naruto looked disappointed but Hinata could tell he wasn't done speaking.

"That is how beast are..." said Iruka. "But... Naruto is not like that. Naruto is a one of a kind person who tries his best with all his heart. I know he messes up some times but he is constantly learning and getting stronger from it. That is what separates him from being a beast. So... you're wrong Mizuki. He is not the Nine-Tailed Fox demon. He is..."

"Naruto Uzumaki of the Village Hidden in the Leaves!" finished Iruka.

Naruto had started crying at his sensei words. Hinata didn't think it was possible but she felt an even greater level of respect for Iruka. He truly believed and had Naruto's best interest at heart. Even though Iruka parents were killed by the Nine-Tails, he doesn't hold Naruto responsible at all. That was more than what Hinata saw from any of the other villagers.

"Please. You really believe that load of crap. You're too gullible Iruka. I was going to kill you later... but you know what, I changed my mind. You die first!"

Hinata saw Mizuki reach for his shuriken and run towards Iruka. Before she could even think Naruto ran in front of Iruka and greeted Mizuki with a running knee to the face. Mizuki automatically flew back and lost the grip of his shuriken. Iruka looked surprised at Naruto. Hinata was surprised that Naruto could even move that fast.

"Not bad..." said Mizuki getting up. "For a freak."

"If you ever lay a hand on my sensei again..." said Naruto. "I'll kill you!"

Hinata could feel Naruto chakra intensify from where she was sitting. She used her Byakugan and almost gasped at Naruto chakra activity. It was like he was a different person. Only the most elite ninja have this kind of staggering chakra activity.

"Such brave words. I could completely destroy you in a single move."

"Take your best shot fool. I'll return it all a thousand fold!" Naruto made a hand seal that was necessary for a shadow clone.

"Show me what you can do Nine-Tailed Fox!"

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" said Naruto.

Hinata's mouth feel completely open as she saw Naruto conjure up at least several hundred clones. Also with her Byakugan she could see that they were all solid and not just after images. She was in complete awe. Just making one shadow clone was hard enough, but Naruto literally made hundreds. Iruka looked shocked too and Mizuki looked like a little kid that just wet himself as he looked at all the Naruto's surrounding him. They all started shouting threats at

Mizuki and Hinata just had to giggle at this.

"If you're not coming," said Naruto. "Then we're gonna come after you!"

Mizuki screamed in fear but the savage beat down came anyway. It lasted several minutes until the shadow clones disappeared, leaving Naruto laughing while looking down at unrecognizable Mizuki. The sun had begun to come up again as its rays started showing through the trees.

"Sorry Iruka sensei, I guess I got a little carried away," said Naruto. "Hey, are you okay Iruka sensei?

"Yeah," said Iruka. Iruka started thinking and then said, "Naruto. I have something for you."

Naruto walked over and told Naruto to close his eyes. Hinata could see Iruka take Naruto goggles then he untied his headband and put it on Naruto. She smiled at this act because not only was it a nice act by Iruka but this probably meant that he was going to pass Naruto. Surely enough, it did.

"Congratulations Naruto. You graduate!"

Naruto looked at his sensei in disbelief.

"And to celebrate. We're going out for ramen tonight!"

Naruto ran to Iruka and hugged him knocking him back into the tree.

"Ow, that hurts." said Iruka as they both began laughing.

Hinata realized that in the excitement Naruto probably forgot she was there, but she was okay with that. She didn't want to interrupt this special moment between Naruto and Iruka.

'It's time I finally head home' thought Hinata.

She then remembered the situation she was in. She had been out all night without permission. Her curfew has long passed and she wouldn't be surprised if there is Anbu Black Ops looking for her. She knew she was probably going to be in trouble, but that was okay. As long as Naruto's safe, that was enough to make her happy. However, she still mentally prepared for the punishment she would probably receive from her father.

While Hinata was leaving she took a look at Mizuki face and honestly... she felt a little bad for him.

The closer she got home the more she was dreading her upcoming punishment. She thought of the best way she could get out of it and then...a light bulb went off in her head. Hinata never liked lying and she has had to do it once today already. Unfortunately, she knew she would have to do it again. Fortunately, she actually had a thought out story this time.

As she got to the gates of the village she almost fainted when two Anbus landed in front of her. They took a good look at her, probably trying to confirm she was the real Hinata and then proceeded to escort her to the Hyuga Estate. As soon as she got there, Ko was waiting. She could tell he was really flustered and worried. She immediately felt bad for making him worry.

"Lady Hinata!" said Ko. "Thank goodness you're alright."

"I'm so sorry for making you worry Ko." said Hinata.

"We found her entering the village a couple of moment's ago." said one of the Anbu. "We don't know where she was though. If you want we can take her got to the Interrogation Room and we can have Inoichi take a look."

Hinata knew Inoichi, Ino father, job was to go inside people's minds and unlock information from their brains. Hinata knew that if she got sent to Inoichi, she was as good as caught.

"It's okay," said Ko. "I'll handle the rest." The two Anbu nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Lady Hinata... Where in the world were you?"

"I was in the woods training, see." said Hinata holding out her hands. Hinata had purposely scratched up her own hands to make it seem she was training really hard. "By the time I stopped I completely lost track of time." Hinata silently thanked the heavens that Ko wasn't using his Byakugan to see if Hinata was lying. The Byakugan could be used to see the slightest twitches in facial expressions. These twitches usually signaled when somebody is lying.

"I see... well I'm glad you are training so hard Lady Hinata, however you still need to always tell somebody where you are, I'm still angry at the fact that a Hidden Cloud ninja almost kidnapped you when you were little."

Hinata knew about this event. She didn't remember very clearly because the ninja drugged her but she had been told about it. Days after signing a peace treaty a Hidden Cloud ninja tried to kidnap Hinata, but was quickly killed by her father. However, because of this the Hidden Cloud was angry at the killing of their own they demanded that Hiashi be put to death. Neji's father, who was Hiashi twin brother, was put to death instead to protect the main branch. It was a true tragedy that the Hyuga clan has never forgiven. It was the reason Neji despised the main branch as much as he did.

Ko looked at Hinata like he was deciding what to do with her. She was afraid her father would come out any second and confine her to her room or worse, make her train for hours on end.

"Since you were training and seeing how Lord Hiashi won't be back until later..." said Ko. "I guess it would be okay if this was just kept between us." Ko winked at Hinata and signaled for her to come in. She admired Ko as always for his kindness. She smiled as she thought of how alike Ko and Iruka are.

Hinata did however feel bad for lying to Ko. However, this was an emergency and she promised that she would make it up to him somehow. Hinata was tired but she knew that she could only take a nap because later today, she is to get assigned to a team. She got to her room and waved goodbye to Ko. She felt guilty, but she was kind of proud of herself for getting out of punishment.

'Maybe I could make a decent criminal after all.' thought Hinata jokingly. She couldn't help but laugh at her own thought.

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**Authors Notes:**

**1. An there goes chapter 5. Do you think when I made Hinata talk to Naruto; I made her seem to confident suddenly?**

**2. I kinda hate how I made Hinata seem so insignificant in this event but this is the only way I could think of doing it while not taking away from Iruka's part.**

**3. Having Hinata feel bad for Mizuki and that last part was just me making a last attempt at some humor. *sighs***

**4. If I made any mistakes or you would like to add suggestions please don't be afraid. I'm always open to new ideas.**


	6. Chapter 6: Team 8

**Authors Note: I can't tell you how bad I wanted to put Hinata in Team 7. **

**For the first time I'm going to start the story from somebody perspective that isn't Hinata.**

**When I use the phrase "nervous mode" it refers too Hinata blushing, playing with her fingers, pointing her feet at each other, and avoiding eye contact. See how much faster typing nervous mode was than all that?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does (if I did, and no offense to Sakura fans, Hinata would have been the main heroine)**

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Chapter 6: Team 8

Iruka scratched his head in indecision. The choices he was about to make was harder than he thought.

'Where are these last nine going to go?' Iruka thought.

With the help of the Third Hokage and other sensei's, he had managed to put most of the graduating students on teams. It was essential that the team be balanced out. An uneven team could mean certain failure. He took one more look at the nine names in front of him:

Hinata Hyuga

Naruto Uzumaki

Sasuke Uchiha

Shikimaru Nara

Shino Aburame

Ino Yamanaka

Sakura Haruno

Kiba Inuzuka

Choji Akamichi

How was he going to do this? Who is going to go where? He started thinking and he finally came up with one of the teams.

"Okay, Team 10 will be..." Iruka started saying to himself. "Shikimaru, Ino, and Choji."

Iruka was well aware of the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho combination established by their fathers. Iruka hesitated to do this because he was afraid the three would have bad chemistry. Ino was kind of superficial, Choji just wanted to get to his next snack and Shikimaru was...well, unmotivated.

'I sure hope they can learn to work together like their fathers.' Iruka hoped. He looked at the remaining names.

Only six to go.

He knew he would have to put Hinata and Sakura on separate teams so he started with that. He then decided since Sasuke and Shino both scored in the top ten that they would be on separate teams to.

'Okay, so I'll put Shino with Hinata and Sasuke with Sakura,' decided Iruka. 'Now for Kiba and Naruto.'

As Iruka was deciding he suddenly remembered some words the young Hyuga said to him.

flashback

"I know Naruto-kun probably won't be able to create good clones but I beg you to pass him because he tries his absolute hardest every day and he never gives up so I think that she qualify him to be a good ninja!" gasped Hinata.

"Um... Hinata... I know Naruto struggles... and I understand but we still have to grade him ." said Iruka still shock. 'Hinata has never talked like that before,' thought Iruka. 'Could it be she actually has feeling for Naruto?'

"Y-Y-Yes... g-g-goodbye." said Hinata as she quickly bowed and ran out before she said anything else.

/flashback

Iruka was still surprised at Hinata's outburst. She was the quietest person in the class. Even quieter than Shino or Sasuke and that was saying something!

Iruka then thought about something else that happened even more recently.

flashback

"Naruto, are you sure you saw her?" said Iruka.

"Of course I'm sure!" said Naruto as he was looking around. "We were speaking and everything. I guessed that she would still be hiding behind this tree, but

I guess she left."

"Did Hinata witness everything?" Iruka asked.

Naruto told Iruka the story Hinata told to him of how she ended up in the situation. When Naruto finished, Iruka nodded but he was still unsure.

'It all seems to coincidental.' thought Iruka.

/flashback

Had Hinata been following Naruto and had she heard that entire event with Mizuki? Does she indeed have such strong feelings toward him that she wouldn't even care if he was the container for the Nine-Tails? Iruka could only guess. However, he has caught Hinata looking at Naruto for stretches of time during class.

He never paid it much mind though.

He thought about the teams again and wondered if should switch Hinata's and Sakura's place. He was about to do it but then shook his head and changed his mind.

'Sorry Hinata,' thought Iruka. 'But it isn't wise to assign teams based on emotions alone.'

Putting Hinata on a team with Shino and Kiba was the logical choice.

Since Hinata had the Byakugan, Shino had his insects, and Kiba had his sensitive nose and a ninja hound; they could be one of the greatest tracking and sensory teams to emerge from the academy. Even if Hinata might be disappointed, in the long run it would be better for her. Plus it's not like she would never see him again right?

Iruka smiled at his decision and put Hinata in Team 8 with Shino and Kiba. Then he made Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura Team 7.

'Glad that's over.' thought Iruka.

Later that day, at the Hyuga Estate...

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" said Hinata making the seal. In a puff of smoke Hinata saw two solid clones of her standing right in front of her. They both waved and bowed politely before the real Hinata released the Jutsu.

'Even my shadow clones are polite.' Hinata thought and then giggled.

Hinata knew that the Shadow Clone Jutsu was forbidden, but the urge to learn it was too great. As soon as she woke up she recalled the training Naruto did in the forest so he could learn the Jutsu and she copied it as best she could. In about an hour she finally managed to create two perfect clones of herself.

There was only one problem though...

It took up a crap load of chakra.

The Jutsu basically splits your chakra into multiple parts. Of course, when the clones disappeared your chakra returned but the effects can still be felt.

Since Hinata didn't have a huge chakra supply, the best she could do without exhausting herself were two clones. But she was okay with that. She felt a little pride in herself because she just learned and extremely advanced Jutsu within an hour. Not even Neji or Sasuke could do this Jutsu, and they were geniuses. Plus, it was all because of the boy she admired the most, Naruto.

'I guess that's another thing I'm thankful for, Naruto-kun.' as Hinata thought about all the times she had watched Naruto.

Let's get something straight. Hinata knew that she was technically spying on Naruto. Honestly, she didn't even know she was actually spying until she looked at the definition when she was ten. She knew spying on somebody could be considered creepy or weird.

But that wasn't the case!

Hinata would never do anything pervy like follow him to his house and watch him change or spy on him every single second of every single day. That just wasn't it. She watched him sometimes and it was only when he was training or when they were in class together. Watching him train and persevere had made a great impact on Hinata's heart. Even when he was alone and had no help he would still try his best. Hinata decided that this is how she wanted to be.

Hinata understood that maybe he could be considered annoying or stupid, but that wasn't the case. To her he was just defending his beliefs and ideals as best he could. Not to mention that she thought his personality and outbursts were kind of funny... and cute she thought.

She shook her head immediately and snapped out of her dream state. Hinata was still trying to figure out exactly what she felt towards Naruto. She knew for certain that she admired him but...she still felt it was even greater than that. Something that she never felt for another boy.

Genuine care and affection.

She instantly started blushing to the ground and started her habit of pushing her index fingers together as if Naruto were right in front of her.

The main point is that watching Naruto had always inspired Hinata to surpass her limits. Today she finally got some results. Even if it he didn't directly help her, she still felt grateful anyway.

"I just learned a new Jutsu, mother." said Hinata looking up into the sun she loved so much and then into the heavens. She looked into the sky for a little while longer until she decided it was time to go. It was time for her to learn who her teammates would be.

She began to walk out of the courtyard when she caught her father and Hanabi entering from their short trip. She was going to say hi but they merely walked passed her as if she was invisible. This didn't bother Hinata. Ever since Hiashi stopped training her and favored her attention on Hanabi, she rarely spoke to her father or sister. Even though Hinata accepted this, she still felt bad that she couldn't live up to her father's high expectations. It was becoming clear that Hanabi would be the clan heir instead of Hinata. Only time could tell.

This harsh relationship with her father was one of the reasons Hinata lost faith in herself. Her only hobby would be spending time alone, crying.

Until she met Naruto that is. Seeing somebody similar to her that just wanted to be praised and acknowledged. In the end she decided she would be stronger and be just like Naruto. Apparently those feelings have evolved into something more, despite knowing that her father, the clan elders, and even Ko don't want Hinata even with him.

The worst part of the relationship with her father is that Hinata has proven to be a very hard worker. It's just that her father wants to have results as soon as possible and never stops to actually look at her.

Hinata shook these thoughts away and began her walk.

She walked out of the Hyuga Estate and proceeded to the academy. After several minutes she arrived at the gates and went through the doors. As she was walking down the hallway when she bumped into someone, and of course it was Naruto. Almost on cue, Hinata went into nervous mode.

"Hey Hinata!" said Naruto waving.

"H-Hello N-Naruto-kun." stuttered Hinata.

"What the heck happened to you earlier? You just disappeared suddenly."

"Umm, I-I really needed to g-get home."

"Oh, well that's understandable." Naruto made his trademark smile and started brandishing his headband. "Look here Hinata! I am a ninja now!"

Hinata tried her best to look surprised because she saw the scene with Iruka giving Naruto his headband.

"O-Oh, that's great." The next words Hinata said had a mind of their own. "It would be great if we could be on the same team

Naruto-kun."

Almost immediately, Hinata realized what she just said her blush deepened even further while Naruto gave her a weird look. All Hinata could do at that point was look at the floor because she knew if she looked into his eyes at that point, she might faint. She waited for him to respond hoping that he wouldn't call her weird or creepy for what she just blurted out.

"Yeah that would be cool. Anyway, see you later Hinata!" Naruto walked toward the classroom leaving Hinata thinking about what she just said.

'Why is this happening?' Hinata thought.

She remembered when Naruto was going to take his exam she spontaneously shouted good luck to Naruto. She also had that little outburst in front of Iruka.

Plus, there was the time where she talked to him in the forest and if she remembered correctly, she barely stuttered at one point. They had all been unintentionally but it was like Hinata's subconscious just took over and spoke for her.

This was really confusing Hinata. She was such a timid person. It wasn't like her at all to speak her mind.

While she was still thinking she walked in the classroom and resumed her seat for the last time. She then looked over to Naruto who had his head on the desk. It looked like he was still smiling and happy. No doubt it was because he was actually graduating. She saw Shikimaru walk over and give Naruto a confused look.

"Naruto?" said Shikimaru. "What are you doing here? You can't be here unless you graduate."

"Oh yeah," replied Naruto pointing to his headband. "Do you see this, do you see this? Open your eyes Shikimaru; it's a regulation ninja headband. We're going to be training together. Awesome right?"

"Hmm." said Shikimaru.

"How do I put it? I look great in this headband, it really suits me. It's like it was made for me, believe it!" Naruto started showing of his headband like he was modeling for a magazine. Hinata started giggling and blushed at Naruto's antics.

'Naruto-kun...' thought Hinata. 'I really am happy we graduated together'

Hinata heard footsteps rapidly approaching the door and it was Sakura and Ino. They looked tired so Hinata already knew that they probably raced here. Ino and Sakura were competitive like that.

"I'm first!" said Sakura and Ino at the same time. They barely managed to say that because they were out of breath.

"I guess I won again, huh Billboard Brow." said Ino.

"Stop flattering yourself Ino-pig! My foot was definitely in front of yours." Hinata always thought that the banter Ino and Sakura said was funny. They always had the funniest faces too.

Hinata looked back at Naruto and saw him looking wide-eyed in her direction. He was obviously blushing.

'I-I-Is he l-l-looking at m-m-me,' Hinata thought as her blush returned. Thoughts began flooding Hinata's mind. 'Does he feel the same way? Can this possibly be true? Wait, does this mean I like him after all?' Hinata's blush deepened further as she looked closer at Naruto and realized that he wasn't looking at her, he was looking at Sakura.

'Right, how could I forget that.' said Hinata as her heart sank. 'I guess a part of me just hoped was staring at my direction.'

It was no surprise to Hinata that Naruto was looking at Sakura like that. She had known he had a crush on her for a long time. Hinata had never been the jealous type but she had to admit, even though she understood, it still hurt her every time she saw Naruto treating Sakura the way she wished he would treat her. But what could she do? She barely had the courage to have small talk with him, let alone start flirting with him. Just the thought of it made Hinata dizzy to the point where she would almost faint.

Hinata suddenly remembered a painful memory where she first saw the signs of Naruto being attracted to Sakura. It was about two years ago.

flashback

Hinata was about to enter class when she heard footsteps. She peaked inside the classroom and saw Naruto there. She entered nervous mode an started wondering what Naruto was doing her so early. She saw that he was carrying a pink decorated box. Hinata used her Byakugan and saw that the box contained chocolates.

'I wonder who there for,' thought Hinata. 'What if they were for me?' Hinata thought about the sudden possibility and felt happiness build up inside of her.

The person she admired actually might like her! It must be a dream!

Sadly, it was a dream.

When Hinata looked again she could see Naruto set the chocolates at a spot where Hinata didn't sit. Hinata knew the person that there.

'Sakura,' thought a devastated Hinata. 'Naruto-kun like Sakura?" Hinata began feeling tears well up and she didn't know why. What did it matter if Naruto like somebody else? It's not like she liked him like that...right? These thought ravaged her mind until she heard none other than Sakura and Ino approaching.

Naruto heard too and hid behind a counter.

They were having one of their many daily trash talk sessions when they passed Hinata and walked into the classroom. Sakura looked at her spot an automatically noticed the box of chocolates.

"Where did this come from?" said Sakura picking up the box.

"Where did what come from?" said Ino. Sakura pointed to the box and Ino automatically recognized it as a box of chocolates.

"Aww, Billboard Brow has a secret admirer," teased Ino. "Hahaha, how funny would it be if they were from someone like Naruto."

"Shut up Ino-pig! That would never ever..."

"Surprise Sakura-chan!" said Naruto popping up from his hiding spot scaring Sakura and Ino. "Hope you like the chocolates!"

Sakura looked at the chocolates like they were covered in paper bombs. She threw them and proceeded to wipe her hands rapidly on a handkerchief leaving Ino laughing hysterically on the ground hugging her sides. Naruto looked very confused.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan!" said Naruto trying to apologize. "I didn't know you were allergic to chocolate!" Naruto grabbed her shoulder and Hinata saw Sakura make such a scary face that even Ino decided to get away from her.

"Narutooooo!" screamed Sakura as she punched Naruto so hard it looks like he was floating in the air for a moment.

This made Ino laugh even harder while Hinata simply sighed and went to get the nurse.

/flashback

Hinata knew boys were always attracted to girls like Sakura and Ino. They were pretty, funny, and popular. Out of the two Sakura was smarter but Ino wins in popularity.

Hinata slumped her shoulders and looked down. Even though Hinata didn't really care about being that type of girl, because Hinata always aspired to be like her mom, she wondered if Naruto would like her if she was. She looked at Naruto again.

Hinata always wondered no matter how much abuse Sakura put him through, both verbal and physical; he was still so attracted to her. Hinata never even figured out where he started liking her. She figured maybe he thought Sakura was really pretty and decided he liked her or maybe it could be deeper than that but

Hinata could only wonder.

'Affection does work in mysterious ways.' thought Hinata. 'Just look at me. I literally faint when I'm too close to Naruto-kun'

Hinata saw Sakura blush and start walking in Naruto's direction. She saw the happiness in his eyes but Hinata knew Sakura wasn't walking towards him, which was confirmed when she shoved him out-of-the-way. She had only one goal...Sasuke.

Every girl, with the exception of Hinata, adored Sasuke. It wasn't even Naruto that kept Hinata from being attracted to Sasuke. Sasuke was very quiet and was alone most of the time like Hinata and Naruto. However, Sasuke never wanted to be bothered by anyone. That went double for fan girls.

Hinata did feel sorry for Sasuke thought. His whole clan was wiped out by his older brother, Itachi Uchiha. It was no surprise to her that Sasuke became bitter. Who wouldn't in that situation?

'He really does remind me of Neji-nii-san...' thought Hinata.

Neji and Sasuke both acted basically the same because they both have had to go through tragedies in their lives and they both became stronger from it. last year's top rookie was Neji Hyuga and this years was Sasuke Uchiha.

Still, Hinata got and eerie feeling from Sasuke she never got around Neji...

"Good morning Sasuke-kun," said Sakura as politely as she could. Sasuke gave her the same emotionless glance he always gave people. "Mind if I sit next to you?"

"Hey, back off Miss Forehead!" said Ino. "If anyone is sitting next to him, it's gonna be me."

"I was here first."

"I arrived here first. "Everyone saw."

"Dream on!" shouted Sakura.

Hinata soon started hearing other girls saying they were here first and it turned in to the usual Sasuke fan girl competition. Sasuke just looked annoyed at all of them and disregarded them completely. Sasuke returned back to his usual gaze only to see Naruto literally inches away from his face. He was glaring at Sasuke as if he was trying to understand why he was so cool.

"Naruto-kun." sighed Hinata.

It was strange at all for Hinata seeing Naruto show animosity towards Sasuke. Since their early academy days, Naruto has made Sasuke his rival. Sasuke never really cared thought. Hinata didn't want to admit it but...it was pretty one-sided. Sasuke beat Naruto at everything. It didn't matter if it was physical things are academic things, Sasuke would always beat Naruto. That would only make Naruto want to face him even more.

Of course the only person that ever rooted for Naruto was Hinata, internally of course.

"Hey, don't stare at Sasuke-kun like that Naruto!" said Sakura. Naruto looked over and saw that every girl in the class besides Hinata was looking at him with a killing intent like stare. The girls were all pleading with Sasuke to beat Naruto up right then and there. The next thing that happened would shock the classroom, including Hinata. While Naruto was still glaring at Sasuke, a boy bumped into Naruto's backside by accident and...

they kissed.

Don't get it wrong. Hinata had indeed seen it was an accident...but, she was little angry. Hinata didn't think something like this would get to her, but oh did it. Her Naruto-kun's first kiss had been taken? Her Naruto-kun's first kiss wasn't taken by her? Her Naruto-kun's first kiss had been taken...by a guy?

In the meantime Naruto and Sasuke looked like they were choking as if they were poisoned.

Hinata was literally so confused at her own feelings that she didn't even stop to think why she wanted to be Naruto's first kiss. She barely even cared that it was an accident. It still happened. Albeit for a second...but it still happened.

However, compared to the anger of the other girls in the room, Hinata looked at nice as an angel sent from the heavens themselves. They all were giving Naruto glares of killing intent. Hinata literally thought they were going to kill him!

Thankfully, that wasn't the case. They still beat the living daylights out of him though.

Hinata won't lie. She thought that the beating Mizuki got was hard to look at but... this was inhumane.

Several minutes passed and everybody settled down as Iruka walked in. Everybody was already in their seats. Naruto looked like he was going to fall into a coma any minute.

"As of today you are all ninjas," said Iruka. "If you think what you faced so far was hard, that's nothing compared to what you're going to be in for. Right now you are all low leveled Genin. I will now begin assigning the three-man teams you all will be a part of. Your teams will be led by a Jonin, an elite ninja."

Everybody started whispering to each other. No doubt that all the girls wanted to be a part of Sasuke's team. The guys probably wanted to be with their best friends.

Hinata hoped that she would be on a team with Naruto. If they are on the same team maybe she could actually talk to him more. they could get to know each other better. Maybe even...become more than friends. At this point Hinata didn't care if she thought this or not.

"We want each squad to have a balance of strength and abilities," said Iruka. "That's how they were set up. I will now begin announcing the squads!"

Iruka went on for minutes. Hinata heard mutters of approval and disapproval throughout the room. When he finally paused for a moment Hinata realized that there were only a few of them left, and one of them was Naruto. Hinata intertwined her fingers and closed her eyes in hope that maybe her and Naruto might actually be on the same team.

"Team 7," said Iruka. "Naruto Uzumaki!"

'Please let me be with Naruto-kun in Team 7.' hoped Hinata.

Sadly her heart sank at the next two names to the point where she would have cried if there weren't so many people around.

"Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha!" finished Iruka. Hinata could see that Naruto was happy at first but then he was sad when he said Sasuke's name.

Hinata wasn't sure but she thought she saw Iruka look at her as if he wanted to see if she was upset. She was of course, but she did a good job at hiding it.

'So I won't be with Naruto-kun then...' thought Hinata.

Hinata felt her heart drop even lower. She realized that not only would she not be with Naruto, but to make matters five times worse; Naruto would get to be with the person he had a crush on which as Sakura. Hinata suddenly envied Sakura. Hinata felt the tears coming again but stopped when Iruka started again.

"Next Team 8." started Iruka. "Hinata Hyuga." Hinata flinched at her name.

"Y-Yes sir." said Hinata trying to talk past her hurt feelings.

"Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame." said Iruka.

'Kiba and Shino,' thought Hinata.

Hinata was devastated by the fact she wouldn't be with Naruto, but she looked for a silver lining.

Shino may be weird and the insect thing would definitely take some time to get used to, he was smart and knowledgeable. She just hoped that he won't give one of his lectures all the time.

Kiba was like Naruto in personality. They both spoke bluntly and were class-clowns. The only difference was Kiba had a family. Hinata even saw him with a little cute puppy once. Hinata knew thought that Kiba was tough when he came down to it and he could hold his own. He was a little intimidating though.

While Iruka was announcing Team 9, she could hear Ino obvious frustration about how Sakura ended up with Sasuke. Hinata was thankful that Sakura liked Sasuke and not Naruto because if she didn't, she could be in serious trouble. Sakura was clearly showing off when Iruka announced the last team. She could see Shikimaru lecturing her and she heard how Ino didn't want to ever be a part of his team at all. Luck wasn't on Ino's side today...

"Team 10, Ino Yamanaka, Shikimaru Nara, and Choji Akamichi." said Iruka.

Ino was angry at the fact that she was going to be on a team with not only Shikimaru, but also with Choji. She looked like she was going to go crazy and Shikimaru didn't help with his gloating.

"Those are all the teams." finished Iruka.

"Iruka sensei! Why does a great ninja like me have to be with a slug like Sasuke?" Sakura gave Naruto the glare.

"Sasuke had the highest scores among the graduating student," said Iruka. "Naruto, you had the worst. To balance it out we put the best student with the worst."

Everybody broke out laughing as Naruto continued to get angrier.

"Just make sure you don't get in my way, loser." said Sasuke. Hinata thought she actually saw smoke come out of Naruto's ears.

"Hey what did you say!" said Naruto.

"Hard of hearing loser?" replied Sasuke instantly.

"Knock it off Naruto and sit down," said Sakura. Everybody started laughing again.

"After lunch, you are all going to meet your new Jonin teachers. Now, class dismissed!"

Hinata sighed at the fact that her and Naruto would be separated. She probably wouldn't be able to see him anymore. Sensing that everyone was leaving she felt the tears well up again until felt a presence above her. It was Naruto and Hinata instantly went into nervous mode.

"Good luck with your new team Hinata!" said Naruto. Hinata was so happy he actually and took time to say something to her; she almost forgot how to speak.

"G-G-Good luck to y-y-you to N-N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said as best she could.

"Hehe, you sure are wierd Hinata. See you later!" he walked out the classroom and went to catch up with his team.

Hinata took a good look at him because she knew she wouldn't be seeing him for a while, probably. She then felt a hand hit her shoulder and saw that it was Iruka. She silently hoped he wouldn't question her about the Mizuki incident.

"I know you might be angry at me Hinata," said Iruka. "If you are angry, I apologize. But you have to know that in the long run, being on this team will help you succeed in your mission." Hinata was surprised Iruka said all this.

'Does he know how I feel about Naruto-kun?' Hinata thought. "U-Um I'm not mad sensei, I-I'm not mad at all. I like my team." Iruka looked at her like trying to decide whether to believe her or not and then he smiled.

"Great...I know you will do great things in the future Hinata. You are one of my brightest students after all."

"Thank you, Iruka sensei." said Hinata smiling. She walked out and Iruka became lost in thought.

'Amane,' thought Iruka. 'Your daughter really is like you. She isn't that good at lying either.' Iruka went back to his work and Hinata was making her way to meet her new teammates and then her new sensei.

'I hope this all goes well.' Hinata thought while walking down the hallways of the academy.

* * *

**Authors Notes:**

**1. Maybe I should make my next fic about Hinata being on Team 7. Think I should?**

**2. If you forgot, Amane is the name I gave Hinata's mom. (I love the name Amane)**

**3. When I use the phrase "nervous mode" it refers too Hinata blushing, playing with her fingers, pointing her feet at each other, and avoiding eye contact. See how much faster reading nervous mode was than all that?**

**4. If I made any mistakes or you would like to add suggestions please don't be afraid. I'm always open to new ideas.**

**5. Hinata with the Shadow Clone Jutsu; cool right.**


	7. Chapter 7: First Impressions

**Authors Note: I really am happy I decided to use honorifics. Hinata saying "Naruto-kun" sounds so cute.**

**Hinata's clones refer to her as Hinata-sempai.**

**I really wanted this chapter to be humor based.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does (if I did, Shino would have been in the Sasuke retrieval mission)**

* * *

Chapter 7: First Impressions

Hinata was open-minded to a being on a team with Shino and Kiba. Who knows; they could all be more alike than she figured. Most importantly she wanted to make a good first impression. First impressions were important right?

Little did Hinata know, today she would pull her first prank on a person, or should I say people?

Hinata was walking out of the academy and started searching for where her teammates were. When she didn't see them she decided to use her Byakugan. She found them walking slowly on the road. When she finally caught up with them she saw a cute little dog she's never seen.

"H-Hey," said Hinata. "Kiba-kun, Shino-kun." Hinata wanted to make a good impression by using the honorifics at the end of their names.

"Oh, Hinata," said Kiba. "What took you so long?"

"O-Oh sorry. I had some things to deal with. I didn't mean to keep you guys waiting."

"It's fine."

Hinata was glad to see Kiba acting so nice. However, she looked at Shino who has been totally silent. Hinata didn't know why but he seemed mad.

"Um... Shino-kun? Are you okay?"

"...You said my name last huh." said Shino who was apparently sulking.

"E-Eh?" said Hinata who was caught off guard. Kiba simply sighed like he's been through this before.

"You should know Hinata that Shino doesn't like been noticed last. It hurts his feelings, I guess."

"Oh, sorry Shino-kun."

"It's okay Hinata. That's because you apologized immediately after you did it."

Hinata closed her eyes in a comical manner and Kiba sighed again. Hinata knew that she would have to get use to Shino's way of speaking. It was going to take time thought. Suddenly, Hinata took notice of the white dog in Kiba's hood again.

"Is that your dog Kiba-kun?"

"Oh right, you haven't met Akamaru yet have you? Akamaru is my ninja hound. You can consider him the fourth member of our group."

Hinata remembered that Kiba is part of the Leaf's Inuzuka Clan. The Inuzuka's specialized in using acute animal like senses to stalk their enemy and then use primal beast like tactics to take them down. They all also specialized in using ninja hounds. Hinata could tell the Kiba hasn't had Akamaru for too long because he was so little. She has seen ninja hound her size before.

"Hello there Akamaru." said Hinata gently rubbing Akamaru. "So what did you guys have planned while we wait for our sensei?"

"Aw that's right!" said Kiba turning towards Shino. "You didn't forget about our competition did you Shino?"

"Not at all." Hinata was waiting for him to prove his answer, but to her shock it didn't come.

'So it doesn't happen every time.' thought Hinata. "What competition?"

"We got into an argument before you came about who had the superior abilities. Me and Akamaru or..."

"Me and my Destruction Insects." finished Shino as a large swarm of insects came flying out of Shino's sleeves. Hinata almost fainted.

She knew that the Aburame clans specialized in the use of insects. They could make an almost prefect offense or defense with their insects. To add to that, the insects could eat their opponents chakra. Hinata wondered just how many insects Shino had. She got the wiggles just thinking about the insects that live on his body.

'Thank goodness he wears a lot of clothing.' thought Hinata.

"We decide to play Capture the Rouge!" said Kiba with a devious smile.

Capture the rouge was a game children played to get ready for their ninja days. You had to have somebody hide somewhere and the other people had to use their tracking skills and capture them first to win. Hinata actually played this before, but had to stop because her Byakugan always gave her an unfair advantage. She could always find the person within minutes. Although, she never had much luck actually capturing them.

"W-Wait so if you two are playing..." started Hinata. "Then doesn't that mean I have to be the..."

"You're too kind Hinata! Glad that was decided!"

"We will wait at the gates of the village. That's because we need to give you time to hide."

Before Hinata could say anything on the matter, Shino and Kiba ran off towards the gates leaving Hinata alone. It took her a couple of seconds but she realized what she just walked into.

'Did I just get tricked into playing the rouge?' thought Hinata blushing from embarrassment.

She was about to go and tell them she didn't want to play but Hinata got a fun idea. She couldn't help but laugh at the idea she just came up with. This was a perfect time to try out her shadow clones.

'I'll just use my shadow clones to hide while I watch them with my Byakugan,' thought Hinata. 'I wonder if they will be mad. '

Hinata couldn't believe she was about to do this. She has never pulled a prank on someone before. Then again, she saw this as a perfect opportunity to practice her shadow clones in the open field and to impress Kiba and Shino with her Jutsu. Hinata made the seal and two shadow clones appeared. Hinata could tell they already knew what to do because they were giggling to.

"We really have gotten devious lately haven't we," said one of the clones. "I guess Naruto-kun rubbing of on us more than we thought."

All three Hinata went in to nervous mode when they heard Naruto's name announced. This made them all laugh more. The two clones took off while the real Hinata ran somewhere away from the clones so Shino and Kiba wouldn't find the real her. While Hinata was settling into her hiding place she started to wonder two things.

Number one was: has really she gotten more devious lately?

Number two was: does she really look like that when she is nervous?

This made Hinata blush to herself in embarrassment as she imagined Naruto looking at her while she was like that. She shook it off and activated her Byakugan to enjoy the show her clones were about to put on.

Kiba and Shino had already taken off and they went in separate directions. She focused on Kiba first because he was gaining on a clone quickly.

"Hahaha!" laughed Kiba. "We're definitely going to win this, right Akamaru?" Akamaru barked in agreement and continued to follow his master.

They had begun jumping on roof tops when they got really close to a clone. Finally Akamaru spotted a clone and Kiba pounced after it in an attempt to capture it. When clone Hinata saw Kiba she jumped immediately causing Kiba and Akamaru to fly of the roof. The clone Hinata couldn't help but giggle at the comical faces of Kiba and Akamaru as they feel into a man's fruit stand. There were squashed and bruised fruit everywhere.

"Oh man Akamaru, are you okay buddy?" Akamaru barked in assurance.

"What the...!" said the fruit man. "Look what you did kid! Do you know how expensive this fruit is! You better have the money to pay for all this!"

"Look dude it was an..." started Kiba as he turned around. Kiba and Akamaru almost wet themselves. Standing in front of them was a 7 foot tall man with bulging muscles.

"What were you saying!" said the man with a threatening face. Kiba tried to think of something to say until he got an idea of what any sane person would do in this situation.

"I was saying..." started Kiba. "Run like hell Akamaru!" Kiba took off at speeds Hinata didn't know was possible while the bulky man started chasing him through the village.

The clone Hinata looked down at the scene and began to wonder.

'I wonder if I should help,' thought clone Hinata. 'But...since we're still playing, I can't give up my place. I have to carry out the duty Hinata-sempai trusted to me.'

With that the clone Hinata went to hide again while Kiba and Akamaru ran for dear life.

Meanwhile the real Hinata watched as she began to worry.

'I think my clones may be a little too loyal,' thought Hinata. 'I hope Shino doesn't get himself into trouble.'

She focused her attention to Shino as he was gaining on Hinata's second clone. It seemed that the other clone choose to hide herself in the shopping district. In no time Shino's insects located the clone Hinata and informed Shino. Shino then began on the clone Hinata's trail while it started fleeing to avoid capture. Shino used his insects to try to capture clone Hinata but she ran into a group of women who got blasted by the insects instead.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" screamed all the women as they drooped their shopping bags and tried to wipe of the insects. Shino withdrew his insects while the girls were still in a frenzy. "What's the big idea kid!"

"There is no need to fear. That's because these insects are under my control. They will not harm you."

"That still doesn't excuse this!" said a really chunky women. "Your nasty insects caused me to drop my dress. It was the only dress I could find that didn't make me look fat!"

"You shouldn't be too upset," Hinata prayed that Shino wouldn't say what she thinks he's going to say, but sadly he did. Shino said something that no sane man should ever say to a female. "That's because it not the dresses that make you look fat."

Hinata has seen when girls get angry at the academy. It was usually something like a Sasuke fan girl war or who had the best outfit. Anyway, Hinata would describe that as petty anger. She has never seen grown women angry before. Her mom never got angry, then again she never got criticized, but the anger she felt coming from that women was so intense Hinata started shuttering. It made Sakura and Ino look like saints. Shino clearly sensed his mistake and took the opportunity to use his bugs for cover as he took off.

Sadly the husky women was so angry, she forgot her fears and charged threw the insects like a dinosaur. She could tell she was saying, quote, "to freaking rip him apart until he looked like shredded cheese."

Hinata's clone watched and came to the same, the same, conclusion the first did. The real Hinata slapped her hand on her forehead and sighed.

'This is a disaster,' thought Hinata. 'I never thought that my clones would be that efficient in their duties. As a matter of fact, I don't even know that I could have done all that so smoothly. Does this mean that I am even weaker than my clones?'

Hinata looked down in disappointment and remembered the situation at hand. She released her clones and ran towards Kiba and Shino. She found it fortunate that they were actually both running towards each other. She feared for Kiba and Shino as they were being chased by a big-chiseled-pink apron wearing-war machine and a big-short tempered-psychotic monster from beyond.

Hinata managed to predict where they would intersect and wait for them. Surely enough they came running for their lives and Hinata held out her hands, signaling for them all to stop.

"Hinata what are you..." started Kiba. Hinata started talking to both the man and women and tried her best not to stutter and tried to look sincere.

"I-I'm terribly sorry for what happened to you two. If you have to blame anybody for the damage of your property, blame me."

The two adults seemed to calm down to Hinata's amazement.

"Look kid, I just want payment for all my destroyed fruit. That fruit stand is the only way I can support my family"

"And I just want money for that dress. It took me months to work up the money for that dress."

Hinata felt even more guilty than before. She was afraid that the adults were just bitter people with bad tempers that didn't like it when people messed with their stuff. But that wasn't the case. They were both struggling with money and were upset when their hard-earned possessions were destroyed.

Even though Hinata comes from a rich and noble family, she doesn't like to show of her wealth. She never liked looking fancy and superior in front of people. Her mom taught her that.

Flashback

"Try not to hit the birds Hinata," said Amane. "If you do, you'll make them sad and they will fly away."

"Sorry mother." said Hinata. She threw another piece of bread and successfully made it land next to the birds. She giggled as the birds playfully scuffled over a piece. Amane and Hinata always enjoyed sitting in the park and throwing bread to the birds while they enjoyed their homemade sweets. While they were watching the birds, Hinata spotted a man in raged clothing that seemed to be walking.

"Mother, why is that man's clothes all torn?" asked Hinata.

Before she got an answer, Amane got up and walked towards the man. Hinata saw her mother hand the man some change she was carrying. The man looked surprised then he smiled and bowed before continuing on his way. Amane came back and resumed her seat on the bench next to Hinata.

"Mother, why did you give him money?" She knew her mom was kind but she was confused to way she was giving weirdly dressed strangers money.

"Hinata," started Amane. "There are people in this world who aren't blessed with our good fortune. Not everybody has a comfy home or a nice family to go to. Some people don't even have anything to take care of themselves. It's important that we spread our good fortune to those less fortunate. Do you understand Hinata?"

"Yes." replied Hinata. Hinata always took whatever lessons her mother taught her to heart immediately.

"Plus," Amane said while giggling. "Your mother always likes making good first impressions to new people." Hinata held her hand to her mouth while giggling like she always did. She even laughed like her mother. "Well that's enough fun for today Hinata. Me and your father are going to be busy tomorrow so we need to leave early today." Hinata looked sad at the news.

"But I want to spend more time with you mother." Amane smiled and then looked into the sun as she tried to think of a solution.

"I'll tell you what, when we get home, we can make some fresh cinnamon rolls." Hinata lifted up immediately and her mouth started watering. Cinnamon rolls were her favorite treat.

"Okay!" said Hinata jumping from the bench and started on her way home with her mother. "Mother, when you're not busy, can we watch the sunset on the Hokage monument again?"

"Mm hmm," giggled Amane. "Sure little one."

/flashback

Like always, Hinata felt the pang in her heart as she thought of her mother. She would have started crying if it were not for the situation at hand. She snapped out of it and came up with a solution.

"I promise that I'll send the money necessary to cover for your fruit and your dress. I swear on the name of the Hyuga Clan."

The two adults thought about it and then nodded with acceptance. How could they not. This polite Hyuga girl was just so convincing! They both went on their separate ways leaving Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino alone.

"Man Hinata, I never knew you could be so..." paused Kiba as he tried to think of the word. "Tricky." Hinata blushed.

"I'm really sorry." Hinata said and then bowed. "Can you two forgive me?"

"Forgive you?" started Kiba. "For what? That was genius! As somebody that pulls pranks, I can respect a good one when I see it. Not to mention the fact you can make solid clones, which is awesome."

Hinata blushed at the compliment she was receiving. It didn't happen often.

"Besides it's not entirely your fault,' said Shino. "That's because Kiba and I handled the situations with those the adults poorly."

"Yeah," said Kiba while Akamaru barked in shame. "I don't know about you two, but all that made me hungry. Let's get something to eat-" Shino held out his arm blocking Kiba's path and cutting him off. "What's the big idea Shino?"

"We can't go eat yet. That's because...the game isn't over yet."

"E-E-Ehh." said Hinata.

"Oh yeah that right," said Kiba forming his beastly smile. "Let's go Akamaru!" Akamaru barked in agreement and got in his stance.

Hinata shook off the confusion and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. They all started jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Hinata as surprised she was this fast.

'Is this actually making me stronger?' Hinata thought.

Sadly her thoughts were interrupted as Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino all crashed into her on accident and they all went crashing into the ground.

"Ouch." they all said in unison. When Hinata finished rubbing her head she felt something squishy in her hand. When she looked, her hand was laying on a crushed potato. Hinata automatically knew were they had landed.

'A vegetable cart.' thought Hinata. 'Oh no.'

Almost on cue the owner of the cart came to them and started ranting in anger. This guy looked exactly like the fruit cart owner.

"Are you freaking kidding me right now," said Kiba looking into the heavens. "Why is this happening!?"

"We've had really bad luck today, That's because...'

"Will you just shut up Shino!" replied Kiba.

"This day is really not going well." said Hinata.

Before they could say anything else the owner looked even angrier at the fact the three were ignoring him. They were about to run for it again until the weirdest thing happened. The man suddenly fell asleep.

"What the..." started Kiba until a women appeared were the man was standing.

It was a tall and light-skinned woman with a slender build. She had long, black, shoulder-length untamed hair, and very unique eyes that are red in color that had an extra ring. She was wearing make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eye shadow. Her outfit consists of a red mesh armor blouse with only the right sleeve visible. Over this is very broad material which resembles bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns. Her hands and upper thighs were also wrapped in bandages and she is also wearing the Leaf forehead protector and regular shinobi sandals.

"W-What did you do to him." asked Hinata.

"Why don't you use your Byakugan Hinata." said the women. Hinata flinched at the fact this women knew her name. She then used her Byakugan to see what was wrong.

"Genjutsu." said Hinata.

"That's right."

"It would take an expert user to use a Genjutsu when they weren't even close to the victim." said Shino.

"Just who are you lady?" said Kiba

"I am Kurenai Yuhi, your new sensei." said Kurenai.

"Y-Your our new sensei?" said Hinata. She didn't think that she would get a female sensei. It wasn't common sadly thought Hinata. Kurenai nodded in agreement and then began speaking again.

"By the way," she started. "If I went by my first impression of you three..."

"You're all goofballs."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**1. I hoped I succeeded with the humor in this chapter.**

**2. Do you guys like the flashbacks of Hinata and her mom's relationship? They will serve a purpose later on.**

**3. You guys don't think I made Shino too annoying do you?**

**4. If I made any mistakes or you would like to add suggestions please don't be afraid. I'm always open to new ideas.**


	8. Chapter 8: Kurenai sensei

**Author's Note: I decided that this chapter will be from Kurenai perspective, starting with a flashback. Yay!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does (if I did, Kurenai and Hinata's sisterly relationship would have been shown more)**

* * *

Chapter 8: Kurenai sensei

Flashback

Kurenai Yuhi stared at the pictures in front of her in wonder. She was staring at her first ever students.

Hinata Hyuga

Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru

Shino Aburame

Kurenai had only become a Jonin about a few weeks ago. One day she got a message from the Third Hokage, Sarutobi, saying that she would get to lead one of the rookies this year. She was excited. She couldn't wait to share her ideals and training methods with her new pupils.

"You should count yourself lucky Kurenai," said Sarutobi. "This is a promising group. Each one of these students is from a prestigious clan of the Leaf Village."

"Yes Lord Hokage," replied Kurenai. She looked at the pictures again and this time Hinata caught her eye. "This girl. She is the heiress of the Hyuga Clan."

"Correct."

"She looks just like Amane." At the thought of her friend Kurenai closed her eyes as she felt like a bee just stung her heart.

"Amane's spirit and will is to be carried on in Hinata, Kurenai. She is one of the biggest reasons why I wanted you to be the leader of this team. Since Amane's death Hinata feels like she has nothing. Not to mention she feels like she is a failure because of her troubles with her clan and her father."

"Hiashi..." said Kurenai with a glare.

"Don't throw your hatred at him Kurenai. Hiashi only ever wanted the best for his daughter's, Hinata especially. Amane's death affected him harder than anybody and he still has to deal with the hard responsibility of the entire Hyuga Clan. Plus, he never has recovered from the incident with Hizashi, his brother."

Sarutobi's words help soften Kurenai's anger.

"I truly believe out of all the Jonin, you are the best to guide Hinata through her Genin years."

"Thank you Lord Hokage," said Kurenai bowing. "I'll take my leave. Also I wish to speak with Hiashi myself about Hinata becoming a Genin. I want to make sure he is truly okay with this."

"Do as you please Kurenai. By the way I trust you know about group that could be after Hinata."

"Yes. Should I tell Hinata or Hiashi?"

"No. I don't want to worry them about this until we're sure of their intentions. Until that time Kurenai, keep your eyes open and don't tell a soul."

/flashback

After the little Capture the Rouge incident, Kurenai managed to sort out the mess and direct her team to the Hyuga Estate where she wanted to have that talks with Hiashi about Hinata's training.

"Okay, Kiba and Shino wait here at the gates. Hinata come with me." They began walking across the courtyard until they reached the stairs. They could here Hiashi and Hanabi training inside. "Just wait here Hinata."

"Kurenai sensei, there really is no need to do this." said Hinata looking down. Kurenai noticed her sadness.

"I just need to make sure Hinata." She walked in and Hiashi immediately noticed her presence. Kurenai looked at the man's stern expression as his eyes were kept on Hanabi. She looked exhausted and was struggling to get off the floor. Kurenai could hear the pure exasperation with every breath she took.

"Stand up, Hanabi." said Hiashi firmly. Hanabi was struggling to get off the ground. "You needed something Kurenai?"

"From now on Hinata will be under my wing..." started Kurenai. "But... are you really okay with that? She is the first-born an heiress to the Hyuga's. I trust you know the dangers of a Genin. Her time could be dangerous and brief."

Hiashi looked like he was thinking for a moment.

"Do what you will!" Kurenai was immediately taken aback by the harshness in his voice. "She is a failure who is inferior to the entire clan, including her sister who is five years younger. The Hyuga doesn't have a need for such a shy, stuttering, and weak heir."

Kurenai felt true frustration and anger at Hiashi's words. 'How dare he say such slanderous things about his own daughter! Sure she needs to improve but that no excuse for you and the entire clan to treat her like trash! If Amane was alive, she never would have allowed any of this! I don't give a damn if he is under a lot of grief and pressure, because it's no excuse to be treating his first-born like some sort of curse!' Kurenai wanted to shout all of this, but was wise and simply kept the rant in her head.

"If there is nothing else you had to say..." For a second, Kurenai thought he could actually read her mind. "We have work to do. Leave us now." Hiashi said all this without once looking at Kurenai.

"Alright." said Kurenai wanting to argue more, but sensed that the matter had been closed. When she walked out she saw Hinata. The look on her face sent pangs in her heart. The look she had symbolized several painful emotions.

It was no wonder why Hinata hated being here so much.

'Hinata feels like she has no one,' thought Kurenai remembering the words Sarutobi said to her. 'Now that her mother's gone and he father had given up on her..' Kurenai took a harder look at Hinata and narrowed her eyes. 'It's up to me to get rid of her self-doubt and make her the beautiful person she was always meant to be. Right Amane?'

Kurenai signaled for Hinata to follow and they walked to the Hyuga gates where Shino and Kiba were still waiting.

"Man, that was fast," said Kiba. "You two were only gone for like five minutes."

"Six to be exact." said Shino.

"Whatever."

"There wasn't much to discuss." says Hinata softly.

"Okay guys. Now that that's out-of-the-way, its time I explain what the survival exercise."

The three of them looked at her in confusion, not to Kurenai's surprise. She already knew beforehand that the rookies weren't informed of this task.

"I'll explain when we get to our destination. Follow me."

Team 8 began on their path to a training ground. Since Kurenai knew Kakashi and Team 7 had the nearby training ground she took them to a personal one. It was just a big clearing inside the woods when you leave the Leaf Village. This clearing was an ideal place to train all kinds of Jutsu. It even had a waterfall overlooking it. Kurenai would always train here when she was a Genin and still used it to this day. She looked at her reflection in the clean water of the stream as they came to a stop.

"Now that were here..." started Kurenai. "Let's get started with the introductions. I already know about you guys from your files but I would like you all to give me a formal introduction. It would also be great if you told me things like what you like or dislike and your future goals. When you guys are done I'll introduce myself and explain the exercise."

"In that case I'll start sensei," said Kiba. "I'm Kiba Inuzuka. I like chewy food and walks with my best pal Akamaru." Akamaru barked in agreement with his master. "I hate foods that aren't chewy and I hate when my mom, Tsume, scolds me; it's real scary." Akamaru gave a bark in agreement. Kurenai also gave a little shutter at the thought of Asume scolding her. Now that was a women you don't want to trifle with.

"My future goal is to be the greatest ninja to come out of the Inuzuka Clan!"

'Kiba Inuzuka...' thought Kurenai. 'He was giving his dog, Akamaru, at a young age. He would get in trouble at the academy for skipping class. He is a boy who hates to sit still and can be impulsive and short-tempered. He also enjoys a good fight and takes great pride in his clan. If he can control his impulses, he can become even stronger than his mother and his big sister, Hana.'

"Okay, who's next?"

"I'll go next sensei," said Shino.

Kurenai took a look at Hinata and Kiba and it looked like they were both preparing for a long lecture. A long boring lecture from and instructor about something uninteresting. She wondered why.

"My name is Shino Aburame. I like winter melons and observing and studying various insect. That's because there are thousands of specious with various tendencies and characteristics. I hate being the only one left out or unnoticed. That's because you should see your comrades or friends in a generous enough light that you always include them in what you're doing."

Kurenai was surprised at that mouthful Shino just said. From what she knew he was always quite. Obviously he can talk a lot if he has someone to talk to. He speaks so matter-of-factly. He says points that could be left unsaid or providing information to a question that could be answered. It would obviously take a while to get used to. She also couldn't get over the fact that he kept the same expression and tone of voice throughout that speech.

"My future goal is to collect every specimen for my insect collection. Why you ask? It's because I would be the first to do it."

'Shino Aburame...' thought Kurenai. 'Looking past his weird speech patterns, Shino has high knowledge and environmental skills. He probably has a bigger range of abilities right know than both Hinata and Kiba. Out of the three of them I can actually see Shino having the potential to be a good leader. That's if Kiba doesn't try to challenge him on it that is. He truly is a prodigy of the Aburame Clan."

"You get to go last Hinata."

"Y-Yes," Kurenai smiled at her stutter. "U-Umm, my name is Hinata Hyuga. I like sweet things, especially cinnamon rolls, and planting flowers. U-Umm I don't like crabs or shrimp."

Forget being the most innocent person in the Hyuga Clan, she may be one of the most innocent people in the village. She is so gentle and soft-spoken. She also likes sweet things, just like her mother. It seemed she really couldn't think about what she hated... except maybe herself, but she isn't going to announce it in front of her teammates.

"My future goal is to be strong like father and kind like mother..." said Hinata with a pang in her heart. "T-Then maybe I can change myself a l-little and be acknowledged by my clan...and maybe even him-" Hinata stopped herself like the word "him" was forbidden.

'Hinata Hyuga,' thought Kurenai. 'She is the spinning image of Amane. Even after what her father has put her through she still wants to be like him in strength. I can obviously she is like Amane already. She is so kind and polite, unlike most Hyuga I've met. Plus she said she wanted to be acknowledged by him. Who is him?'

"Hey Hinata, what did you mean by him?" Hinata went into nervous mode and barely managed to get her next words out.

"O-Oh, I-I didn't m-mean a-anybody..." blurted Hinata.

All of her teammates could clearly see her discomfort and embarrassment. Kurenai saw her face and it looked familiar. Like she had seen that expression before.

She suddenly remembered. It was when her and Amane where ten years old.

Flashback

It was a bright sunny day and Amane and Kurenai were taking their daily walk through the village.

"Oh come on Amane!" said Kurenai. "Why don't you just go say something to this guy?"

Amane went into nervous mode.

"I-I can't p-possibly approach h-him..." blurted Amane. "H-He would t-think I'm w-weird or something."

"I could help you if you told me who he was. When he sees my puppy dog eyes, he'll do whatever I say." Kurenai comically made an innocent look to Amane and put her hand over her mouth and started laughing. "I'll just use this look and make him like you. It would be a done deal."

"Is that what you want to do Asuma?" teased Amane. Kurenai immediately blushed and tried to look confused.

"What are you talking about?" said Kurenai putting her hands on her face in embarrassment. "Me and Asuma? No way! Never! He's not really my type you know?" Amane could tell she was lying.

"Geez Kurenai, you're about as good at lying as I am."

"Whatever," said Kurenai still blushing. "Now would you please tell your best friend who you like?" Amane looked like she was thinking while she poked her index fingers together.

"You can't tell anyone."

"Of course I wouldn't tell anyone." said Kurenai looking serious.

"I'm sorry for doubting you, but this is top-secret. I haven't told anybody."

"Okay, now can you just say it."

"He's that guy with the spiky yellow hair," said Amane in total nervous mode again. "You know..."

"Minato Namakaze."

/flashback

Kurenai took a slight smile at the memory of her friends childhood crush on the Fourth Hokage, Minato. Even thought Kurenai knew Amane later fell in love and married Hiashi and Minato fell for Kushina, it was still pretty funny to think about. Kurenai snapped out of her childhood daydream and remembered it was her turn to do the introduction. Kurenai cleared out her throat and began speaking.

"My name is Kurenai Yuhi. I like octopus and wasabi. I never really had a taste for cakes. My future goal is..."

Kurenai thought about and realized she didn't really have a legitimate goal. I mean of course she wanted to be a good ninja but that's something every ninja wants to be right? What do I want she thought.

"Sorry but I don't really have a legitimate future goal." The three Genin looked at her in confusion.

"Oh come on sensei," said Kiba. "There's absolutely nothing you want later in life?" Kurenai thought about it, then it finally came to her.

"I guess my goal would have to be to live the rest of my life with a nice and healthy family to call my own. I know that's not really ninja related but..."

"I-I think it's a good goal Kurenai sensei." said Hinata.

"I agree," said Shino. "That's because-"

"We get it Shino," said Kiba stopping Shino from carrying on.

"Just wanted to make sure. Why you a-"

"Shino!"

"You two are like brothers already," said Kurenai. "Okay, now that introductions are done, it's time to get down business. The survival exercise."

"Survival exercise?" said Kiba. "I thought we were done with that stuff."

"This is a special exercise. You guys probably won't be happy with this news but out of the twenty-seven graduates only about nine will be recognized as Genin, while the others will be sent back to the academy. If you do the math this is a test that will have at least a sixty-six percent failing rate or higher.

All three of them looked shocked and horrified. They probably figured that since they made it out of the academy they were Genin no matter what. Kurenai could only imagine what's going through their heads now. Who knows how their clans would view them if they got sent back to the academy. Hinata already has it so rough, but Kurenai had to be fair and judge them so.

"That's bogus man!" said Kiba. "That's completely unfair!"

"I said you wouldn't be happy with the news. It may seem harsh but trust me, you're time as a ninja is going to be even harder."

"What was the graduation exam for if this was in store for us?" said Shino.

"That was to simply decide who has a chance of becoming a Genin."

"You've got to be joking." said Kiba. Even Akamaru looked uneasy.

"So if we fail, we'll be sent back to the academy and we'll have to go over all the material again." said Hinata softly.

"Yes Hinata, I'll be the one that chooses whether you pass or fail. You are to bring your ninja gear to this spot at six in the morning. Tardiness will not be tolerated."

They all looked like they were thinking to themselves. They were probably mentally preparing for tomorrow. They were also thinking about the harsh consequences if they were to fail. Kurenai honestly hoped that they would all pass the test successfully. She felt an early connection with her first ever student. Especially, Hinata.

"I wish all of you good luck. Now you are all dismissed!"

"Yes Kurenai sensei." they all said in unison. They all took off towards the Leaf and Kurenai decided to stay a bit longer.

'Each one of them is special in their own way,' thought Kurenai. 'If they manage to pass, they could really be the breakout team this year. Who knows, I might even put them in the Chunin Exams if they really blow me away. I guess only time will tell.'

Kurenai closed her eyes as she sat down and listened to the beautiful sounds of the forest and the waterfall. She then began to think about Amane and Hinata.

'I really hope Hinata passes,' thought Kurenai. 'It would kill me to send her back to the academy. The poor thing already goes through so much already. Although, I really do wonder who she wants to be acknowledged by.'

Kurenai thought about Hinata's blush, and decided she was definitely talking about a boy, The question was who? She thought about Amane's crush on Minato. Then, for some reason Minato's blond hair reminded her of that hyperactive blonde boy Naruto. Kurenai laughed at the thought of both mother and daughter liking two blonde haired boys. She admitted that Minato was a looker and was cool. Naruto was just a boy who played various pranks and was spontaneous and hot-headed in his actions. Even though Kurenai was one of the few villagers that didn't hate Naruto she still couldn't see the charm. The boy wears bright orange for goodness sake!

"There's no way Hinata could like Naruto." Kurenai decided as she continued her enjoyment of the sounds in the forest.

* * *

**Authors Notes:**

**1. I know... this chapter had a lot of flashback, but this was the only way I could make it long enough.**

**2. So Hinata's mom, Amane, had originally liked Naruto's dad, Minato. Irony at its finest.**

**3. In all honesty Amane and Minato's relationship will be explored more later on.**

**4. I don't think Kurenai knows about Naruto being Minato's son yet.**

**5. If I made any mistakes or you would like to add suggestions please don't be afraid. I'm always open to new ideas.**


	9. Chapter 9: Survival Exercise

**Authors Note: We are back to Hinata's point of view ladies and gentlemen. Plus we get some action this chapter, start the party!**

**By the way, for those of you wonderful people who take the time to read this I have a question. If you don't mind reviewing, could you tell me who you would have put in Team 8? It can be anybody you want.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does (if I did, everyone would be able to walk on air)**

* * *

Chapter 9: Survival Exercise!

Hinata was finding hard to keep her cool. She thought she was done with the academy. When Iruka handed her that headband she had completely ruled out that it could be taken away from her. Hinata knew that if she had to tell her father she was going to be sent back to the clan, he might dismiss her completely out of shame and embarrassment. If this had been something like a written test or a Jutsu test she would be a little calm. However, Kurenai said it would be a survival exercise. Hinata hoped it would just be a test on fundamentals, like shuriken throwing and stealth.

"Lady Hinata," said Ko. "Are you well?"

Hinata realized she had just been sitting there looking at her breakfast the entire time.

"Yes," replied Hinata. "I'm just a little nervous."

"You shouldn't be. You'll probably do the best out of your team."

"Thank you, Ko." smiled Hinata.

"By the way, I came to tell you that the reparations for those two adults have been completed. I have to say Lady Hinata; I didn't know you could be so, tricky."

Hinata blushed in embarrassment.

"I-It was an accident.".

"I'm just teasing Lady Hinata. Good luck on your test." Ko then bowed and walked away as Hinata waved.

Hinata got her backpack full of the necessary gear for the exercise. She set off out of the Hyuga Estate and started towards her destination. Hinata's fears began rising again. She wasn't afraid for herself as much as she was afraid for Naruto.

'If Naruto-kun fails, he'll be sent back to the academy.' thought Hinata. The pain of thinking Naruto was going to fail was painful enough the first time around. It would crush him if he had to give his headband back and return to the academy.

'Do your best Naruto-kun...' thought Hinata.

Meanwhile at Team 7's exercise...

"Ha, that guy must have dropped the bells by accident," said a smirking Naruto. "All I have to do is grab it and then I pass."

Naruto happily walked up to the bell thinking that he was going to pass for sure. As he was about to pick up the bell, a rope tightened around his ankle and pulled him upside down into a tree. Naruto was comically squirming as he tried desperately to reach for the bell on the ground. Kakashi walked up and then sighed at his student's stupidity before retrieving the bell.

"Think before you move, or you're going to regret it," said Kakashi. "Also, if the bait is obvious, don't take it."

Naruto squirmed angrily while he was hanging upside down.

"He is so uncool." said Sakura.

"Loser." said Sasuke.

Back with Hinata...

'I'm sure he's doing fine.' thought Hinata.

She kept to her path until the testing area came into view. Kurenai was already waiting along with Shino. Hinata looked for Kiba and Akamaru but they apparently hadn't shown up yet.

"Hinata, I'm glad to see you made it," said Kurenai. "You didn't see Kiba did-"

On cue Kiba and Akamaru came into view. They were clearly in a rush. Hinata figured he probably overslept. He did it all the time at the academy. When he finally came to a stop he was breathing heavily.

"I'm here sensei," said Kiba. "I almost overslept if it wasn't for my sister."

"As long as your here, it doesn't matter. Let's get down to business."

Kurenai pulled out two roses and then stuck them firmly in her hair.

"Your test will be to try an get one of these roses," said Kurenai. "If you can successfully take one, you automatically pass. You have until 1:00 to take one."

"So, we're going to be fighting you right?" said Shino.

"That's correct. Unless you come at me with the intent to kill, you will never get one."

"Heh, now this is a test I can get into." said Kiba smiling.

'This is very bad,' thought Hinata. 'I have trouble against people my age, and now you're telling me I have to fight a Jonin. Both Kiba and Shino are better in me than this. I've never attacked with the intent to kill before...'

"Now if there are no questions... begin!"

Hinata and Shino wasted no time retreating for cover. One of the essentials of any ninja is to first scout out your opponent to gather information on their abilities. Of course, there people who prefer a more direct approach...like Kiba.

"What's wrong Kiba?" said Kurenai. "You're not going to use this opportunity to take cover?"

"Please! There's no need. I know your specialty is Genjutsu. That means you're going to be lacking in the Taijutsu department, am I right Akamaru?" Akamaru barked in agreement as he got ready for a fight.

"Is that so?" said Kurenai.

"Come on Akamaru!" Kiba proceeded to throw a red pill at Akamaru. Once Akamaru ate it his fur began changing red.

"Soldier pills," said Kurenai. "You're looking to increase your chakra from the get go."

"Beast Mimicry: Man Beast Clones!"

In a puff of smoke there were two Kibas, both snarling and ready for combat.

"Let's go Akamaru!" They both charged at Kurenai with the fastest speed that Hinata's ever seen. They used quick claw like scratches and punches but Kurenai seemed to be evading them all. hey tried getting on either side of her for a simultaneous attack, but Kurenai once again dodged the attack.

'Despite being proficient in Genjutsu, she is very quick,' thought Hinata. 'So this is a Jonin...'

Kiba and Akamaru continued there barrages of melee attacks with Kurenai slipping through each one.

"The Inuzuka pride themselves in swarming their enemy with lighting fast attacks. Is this all you have to offer Kiba?"

Kiba was clearly getting frustrated by Kurenai words. Hinata could tell when somebody was trying to insult you because her Hyuga instructors did it constantly. Kurenai seemed like she was egging Kiba on to break his limits and go all out.

"Okay then, how about this!" Kiba and Akamaru got in a wolf like stance and then pounced at Kurenai at the same time with the greatest speed yet. "Fang Over Fang!"

Their attack was not only fast but had range to it also. Hinata gasped as the move made contact with Kurenai and sent her crashing to the ground. Kiba stood up and laughed in triumph.

"How was that sensei?" said Kiba mockingly. "Sorry to get rough, but I am not ever going back to the academy."

Kiba went to take a rose out of Kurenai hair when suddenly...

"Naive." said Kurenai who suddenly appeared behind Kiba and Akamaru.

"How the-" started Kiba before he took a look at the Kurenai he struck down to find out she wasn't there.

"Genjutsu; it was already activated by the time you started attacking me. You were so concerned in hurting me, you never considered that I had put you under a Genjutsu.

"How could I be so careless..." Akamaru, who had already transformed back into himself, was backing away in fear.

"Your penalty will be that you'll be put under a Genjutsu for an hour." said Kurenai making hand seals at incredible speed.

Before Kiba or Akamaru cold do anything they had both fell flat on the ground from being consumed by Kurenai's Genjutsu. Hinata used her Byakugan and saw that it was a powerful Genjutsu.

'As long as I have my Byakugan activated, she can't unwarily put me under a Genjutsu.' thought Hinata praising her clan's eye technique.

Hinata saw that Shino was actually approaching Kurenai next. Hinata found it easy to believe Kiba approached her face to face, but Shino?

"So you're up next Shino."

"That would be correct sensei."

"I hope you're not going to recklessly charge at me too."

"Not at all. That's because... that's not my style."

Hinata felt an eerie presence in the air. It was confirmed when she saw a whirlpool of insect circle around Kurenai trapping her.

"When did you-" started Kurenai.

"While you were fighting Kiba," finished Shino. "I was focusing my insects to home in on you so they can swarm you. Not only is your visibility gone, but my bugs will slowly eat away at your chakra until you are worn out. What will happen next is I will take the rose. Why you ask? It's because I need it to pass."

Hinata actually didn't mind Shino's long speech because he looked kind of cool doing it. Not only had he trapped Kurenai, but if the insects eat all of her chakra she will no longer be able to fight back. Hinata confirmed with her Byakugan that there was no Genjutsu active. Hinata didn't see a way Kurenai could get out of this one.

Suddenly, this strong wind started blowing and then a bunch of red petals began falling from the sky. Hinata and Shino were both confused. They had come from out of nowhere. Hinata quickly panicked as she realized what just happened.

'She can still use her Genjutsu?' Hinata thought.

Shino's insects scattered around in confusion. They were probably confused at the fact that they lost their target. Kurenai appeared behind Shino and proceeded to use the same Genjutsu she used on Kiba.

"I don't need to be able to see to put you under Genjutsu Shino," said Kurenai. "As long as I can make seals, I can use Genjutsu strong enough to affect you. I have to admit that if you were at Jonin level, it might have been over for me."

Hinata internally thanked her ability to hide her presence, it was only her left. Kiba and Shino would both be unconscious for a while. She racked her brains to find a reasonable solution.

'I could just keep hiding and wait for an opportunity.' thought Hinata. 'But she is constantly on guard and I have to make a move eventually. As long as I have my Byakugan, I'll be safe from her Genjutsu. Still, I should play it safe with shadow clones.'

Hinata made two clones and waited for the best opportunity to jump into action. Hinata could tell Kurenai was trying to sense where she was but was having trouble.

"If you can hear me Hinata, you have great talent in hiding your presence. However, you have to act eventually. Even if your Byakugan can protect you from my Genjutsu, you can't sit back and relax."

It wasn't like Hinata to attack first but she knew there was no other way. She tried to look deep down and find the strength to do this.

'I can do this,' thought Hinata. 'Naruto-kun wouldn't back down and neither will I!'

Hinata saw her opportunity and launched into action. One of her clones was running towards Kurenai back side while another threw some shuriken. Kurenai dodged the shuriken and gave a harsh kick to the clone Hinata approaching her. She had a surprised look when it turned out to be a clone.

"Impressive Hinata. Where ever did you learn such advanced Ninjutsu?"

Instead of a reply Hinata threw some more shuriken to knock Kurenai off-balance. After that, she leapt into action and readied her attack.

"Palm Heel Strike!" said Hinata launching her attack at Kurenai.

"Too slow!" She not only dodged, she grabbed both her arms and slammed her on the ground. It turned out to be another clone.

'As I suspected...' thought Kurenai. 'So where is the r-?'

Her thought was stop by the sense of danger behind her. Hinata had gotten within length of her.

'She hides her presence that well?' thought Kurenai.

"Gentle Step Twin Palms!" said Hinata taking that crucial first step forward and hitting her palms in Kurenai stomach.

'I did it!' thought Hinata.

Her happiness was crushed when a log took Kurenai's place.

"Substitution?" said Hinata.

Before she could think anymore she saw, with her Byakugan, the kunai coming at her. She dodged and was met with Kurenai appearing as quick as a flash right beside her and launching a kick. Hinata blocked with her left arm as she tried to hit her with her right palm. Kurenai saw this coming and pushed back, creating space between them.

"You're fairing pretty well Hinata, but it looks like your stamina is about to run out."

Hinata couldn't argue. Using her shadow clones was tiresome enough. She also launched multiple palm techniques and had to keep her Byakugan activated at all times or she would fall prey to Kurenai's Genjutsu.

"Now, let's see just how good your Taijutsu is."

Kurenai came again with a barrage of kicks and punches. All Hinata could do was dodge and block.

'She is a Genjutsu type, so how is it possible that her Taijutsu so good?' thought Hinata. 'Maybe it's just me...'

"Come on Hinata you can do better! Show me the power of Hyuga."

'Is she trying to encourage me?' thought Hinata. 'Why would she-'

She was interrupted by a kick to her gut. The pain caused her to collapse and made her Byakugan deactivate.

"I'm disappointed Hinata, I guessed that Shino and Kiba wouldn't get the meaning of this test but I hoped you would catch on."

"True... meaning?" said Hinata in confusion.

Before she could think any further, Kurenai made some seals and the next thing Hinata knew she blacked out.

When Hinata came to she was lying on the ground. She looked up in the sky and saw that the sun was higher. She was running out of time.

'I have to...' thought Hinata. Hinata then remembered the words Kurenai said to her.

flashback

"I'm disappointed Hinata," said Kurenai. "I guessed that Shino and Kiba wouldn't get the meaning of this test but I hoped you would catch on."

/flashback

'The true meaning of the test...' thought Hinata. 'Maybe trying your best to get a rose isn't the solution...'

Hinata analyzed the situation as best she could. They had to fight somebody who was obviously way stronger than them. Not only that, she was trying pretty hard not to let herself get caught. Surely they don't expect a rookie to be able to take down a Jonin. As a matter of fact the only way they could even hope to succeed is if they attack together...wait a minute!

'Could the answer be...' thought Hinata. 'Teamwork?'

It started to make sense. The fact that they had to fight somebody above their rank. That they were on three-man squads based on which people could be more efficient with each other. The only thing that was confusing her was that there were only two roses. However, she thought that could be a trick.

'Could it be?" thought Hinata. 'This is the only hope we have.'

Hinata got up used her Byakugan and went to search for Kiba and Shino. She also kept a lookout for Kurenai. Kiba had already gone back on the offensive while Shino was tacking cover nearby.

'I have to tell those two, I hope they listen to me.'

'Above all I just hope I'm right.' thought Hinata as she dashed towards her teammates.

* * *

**Authors Notes:**

**1. For those of you who have read so far, there is a special chapter I have planned for valentine's day. It will be a special chapter so you won't find it in this one. it will be counted as another story. I will have it ready later in the week. It will be called "CHH Special 1: The Secret Valentine."**

**2. If I made any mistakes or you would like to add suggestions please don't be afraid. I'm always open to new ideas**.


	10. Chapter 10: The Plan and the Promise

**Author's Notes: For those of you who have read so far, there is a special chapter I have planned for Valentine's Day. It will be a special chapter so you won't find it in this one. It will be counted as another story. I will have it ready later in the week. It will be called "CHH Special 1: The Secret Valentine."**

**The story will be unrelated to the plot of CHH. It's just a sweet little story I wanted to do.**

**Also I would like to thank anybody who answered my question from the previous chapter. I'll try to think of more questions to ask.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does (if I did, Akamaru would be a wolf)**

* * *

Chapter 10: The Plan and the Promise

Thanks to the power of the Byakugan, Hinata could see that Kiba was stubbornly still on the offensive. She could tell that Kurenai was just toying with him.

'I need to get to him before he gets put under Genjutsu again...' thought Hinata. 'I can get Shino-kun to get us some cover.'

She searched for Shino, and found him sitting in a tree looking at the fight. Hinata sped towards him an approached the tree.

"Shino-kun." said Hinata.

"What is it?" asked Shino. "I have to-"

"Teamwork. " Hinata quickly said.

"What?" asked Shino.

"It's just a guess but I think the purpose for this test is to work as a team." said Hinata.

Hinata tried to tell what he was thinking, but it was difficult because he always has the same expression.

"How did you come to this?"

"Well, it's that we were put on three-man squads," said Hinata. "If they wanted us to compete, putting us on teams would be meaningless. Also,

Kurenai sensei told me that she was disappointed that we haven't gotten the true meaning of the test."

"Hmm, if you don't count the fact there are two roses, it makes sense," said Shino. "I'm impressed by your deductive skills Hinata."

"Thank You." said Hinata.

"What plan did you have in mind?" asked Shino.

"I was hoping you could make some cover for Kiba so that we can all retreat and explain the situation to him." said Hinata.

"If I use my insects for cover, she would just use Genjutsu on us."

"With my Byakugan, I will be able to see if we are under Genjutsu."

"You continue to impress Hinata," said Shino. "Let's do this."

Hinata was surprised at Shino's cooperative and supportive attitude.

"Hopefully Kiba will be just as easy to persuade." said Hinata.

"I wouldn't count on it." said Shino. "That's because he very obstinate."

Kiba and Akamaru were still trying to land a blow on Kurenai when Hinata looked at them again.

"You can just dodge forever sensei!" yelled Kiba.

"This is getting boring Kiba," answered Kurenai. "I've given enough chances. It's time to go under Genjutsu again."

"Crap..."said Kiba.

"Now Shino." said Hinata.

Shino insects swarmed to Kurenai with the purpose of blocking her vision. Hinata used this opportunity to grab Kiba and try to get him to follow.

"Hinata what are you-" asked Kiba.

"Please Kiba-kun, you need to follow."

Kiba and Akamaru reluctantly followed Hinata as they meet up with Shino and sprinted to create space between them and Kurenai. After a minute, Hinata decided it was safe to stop and happily deactivated her Byakugan because she was getting exhausted.

"We're safe for now." said Hinata.

"What's the big idea?" asked Kiba.

Shino explained Hinata idea thoroughly to Kiba.

"Working together?" said Kiba. "Are you sure about this?"

"It's the only thing I could think of." answered Hinata.

"I wonder..." questioned Kiba.

"Kiba!" said Shino so suddenly that Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru jumped. "We are running out of time. Your teammate Hinata has a good idea and needs our help."

"Have faith in your comrades!"

Hinata and Kiba looked at Shino wide-eyed. Hinata gained respect for Shino. Not only did he think of her as a comrade, but he was quick to have faith in her. That didn't happen often.

"Shino-kun..." said Hinata.

"Geez, alright already," said Kiba. "So what's the plan?"

The three went over possible strategies against Kurenai. In the end it was Shino's plan they agreed to doing. They were surprised at Shino's tactility ability. When they finally memorized the plan they got ready to go into action.

"I hope were right about this," said Kiba. "It still could come down to who gets a rose."

"Right." said Shino.

"It's okay, if you two can grab the roses..." Hinata softly said.

Kiba and Shino looked at her as if she were a stranger.

"Hinata..." said Kiba.

"If the plan goes right I won't have a chance to grab one anyway..." said Hinata.

"Hopefully it won't come to that," said Shino. "If there is nothing else-"

"Hold it," said Kiba. "I need to say something."

"What is it Kiba-kun?" said Hinata.

"I always thought that you were just a fragile shy girl and I thought Shino was weird but, you guys are kind alright...I guess." Akamaru barked in agreement.

Hinata could tell that this was Kiba's tough guy way of saying that he was glad are friends.

"You guys better not tell anyone about this!" said Kiba baring his fangs."

"Of course not." giggled Hinata.

"Your secret is safe," said Shino. "It's because your comrades can keep secrets."

"Let's pass this damn test and become Genin!" yelled Kiba sticking his arm out.

"Yes." replied Hinata putting her arm out.

"Of course," said Shino. "Why you ask-"

"Yo bug nerd, just stick your out." said Kiba.

"Humph." said Shino sticking his arm out.

"Now go to your positions." said Shino.

They all took off to their spots. Hinata prepared herself. If this was going to work, they would all need to be in synch. Shino and Kiba took their places around the area were Kurenai was. Hinata took her spot, which was in front of Kurenai.

"Hinata," said Kurenai. "Did you enjoy the Genjutsu?"

"It gave me time to think sensei." answered Hinata.

"I hope you don't still think that just because you have your Byakugan, you're going to win." said Kurenai.

'I can do this.' thought Hinata. 'Self-confidence.'

Hinata charged at Kurenai sticking her palms out ready to attack.

"That method again huh." said Kurenai.

Before Hinata could get there, Shino insect were launching at Kurenai from above.

'Two way attack.' thought Kurenai.

Kurenai blocked Hinata and then braced herself from Shino insects.

'All they can do is swarm me again.' thought Kurenai.

As Shino bugs got closer they started to part, revealing Kiba coming at Kurenai with Fang Over Fang.

"A trick." said Kurenai. "I don't have time to move."

Kurenai block as Kiba's attack knocked her backed a few feet. Hinata was ready to hit her with a palm strike until Kurenai miraculously shifted her momentum into a kick to Hinata abdomen. She dissipated revealing to Kurenai she just hit a clone.

"Just as I thought." said Kurenai. 'I bet Kiba going attack my blind spot next.'

Surely enough Kiba and Akamaru were about to tackle Kurenai. Kurenai dodged and delivered a kick to Akamaru knocking him unconscious. She then went up to Kiba and delivered a punch that brought him to his knee.

"Such a shame," said Kurenai. "I'm impressed that you guys are finally working together. However, your plan isn't good enough. You're now going to be put under Genjutsu for the rest of the test. Is there anything you want to say before I do?"

"Yeah." said Kiba.

Kiba smiled and then a cloud of smoke erupted around him. When it cleared Hinata was there with her Byakugan activated.

"Genjutsu won't work on the Byakugan, sensei." said Hinata.

"What the-" said Kurenai.

Before she could say anything else Hinata launched her attack. Kurenai knew that she had been fooled into getting close to Hinata so she could hit her with Gentle fist.

"Double Palm Heel Strike!" said Hinata digging her palms into Kurenai.

Kurenai hit the ground with Hinata palms still in contact with her.

"Sorry sensei, but as long as my palms are in these spots, you won't be able to move or mold your chakra."

"How did you do it?" asked Kurenai.

"The Kiba that came at you with Fang Over Fang was real. The purpose was to hit you towards my clone so that you would be focused on that. While you were, I switched places with the real Kiba and used transformation. After you hit Akamaru I knew you would try to get close to me and put me under Genjutsu. When you got close enough, evading my attack was near impossible."

"That's an impressive plan Hinata."

"Shino-kun thought of most of it."

"You three...have grown in such a short time." Kurenai began to smile.

Kiba, Shino and Akamaru came up to where Hinata was.

"Quick, grab the roses you two." said Hinata.

"No." exclaimed Kiba.

"I agree," said Shino. "It's all or none with us."

"Kiba-kun, Shino-kun..." said Hinata feeling immense gratitude towards her teammates.

Kurenai began laughing as her form disappeared in smoke.

"It was a clone the whole time?" said Kiba. "Crap!"

In another puff of smoke the real Kurenai appeared before them with a smile on her face.

"Congratulations," exclaimed Kurenai. "You all pass!"

"Huh?" all three of them said.

"You all managed to get the purpose of this test," said Kurenai. "One of the most important things for any ninja is teamwork. If you guys would have kept attacking my clone individually, you would have failed. Just in curiosity, which one of you figured it out first?"

"Hinata, sensei." answered Shino.

"It was partly because of the hint you, I mean your clone gave me."

"Nonetheless, I'm very proud to call you my students," said Kurenai. "I saw each one of you mature a little with my own eyes. Kiba' you learned that planning can be more efficient than brute force. Shino, you learned that solitude isn't the best route. Hinata, you learned to have faith in your decisions and to have some confidence."

Hinata smiled when she did realize she was more confident than usual for this test.

"Again, congratulations," said Kurenai. "Team 8 starts their first assignment tomorrow!"

"Awesome!" said Kiba. "We did it Akamaru!"

"Looks like were finally Genin." said Shino.

Hinata nodded in happiness. Finally, she was a ninja. All that time in the academy and all those struggles finally bear fruit.

'I finally did it mother, Naruto-kun.' thought Hinata.

"I'll see you guy's tomorrow." said Kurenai. "Hinata, you stay here. There is something we need to talk about."

Hinata wondered what Kurenai wanted as she watched Kiba and Shino go back towards the village.

"Yes sensei?" said Hinata.

"How do you feel about being a ninja?" said Kurenai.

"I'm happy. I can finally begin working towards my goal."

"Hinata... I wanted you on my team more than anyone."

"Why me?" said Hinata in wonder.

"It's a promise I made to your mother."

Hinata looked at Kurenai in shock.

"You knew my mother?"

"Knew her?" said Kurenai. "We were best friends since we started in the academy. I even saw you the day you were born. The day I made the promise."

flashback

She's beautiful Amane," said Kurenai holding Hinata for the first time. "Why did you name her Hinata?"

Amane sat up in her hospital bed and looked at the sunlight coming from the window.

"She seemed to like sunlight," said Amane with a smile. "I also wanted my little girl to know she is my sunshine."

"It's a nice name."

"Didn't you want a child Kurenai?"

"I wanted a son one day. I don't know why but having a son always seemed like a nice thing."

Amane giggled and closed her eyes.

"Don't you mean having Asuma's son always seemed like a nice thing?" teased Amane.

Kurenai blushed and looked embarrassed.

"Don't be ridiculous!" said Kurenai looking away. "I keep telling you there is nothing between us."

"Whatever you say Kurenai."

"So...who have you selected to be her godmother?"

"Anko of course." smiled Amane.

"Say what!"

"I'm just kidding. Would you like to be her-"

"Well...since you asked so nicely," said Kurenai. "I can't say no."

Amane put her hand to her mouth to hold back her giggles.

"Thanks Kurenai."

"By the way," said Kurenai with a more serious tone. "Is it true that "they" might come after her."

Amane looked serious which Kurenai didn't see often.

"It's just a suspicion," said Amane. "They never came after Hiashi. I fear though because Hinata is a special case. She has the same kind of chakra as the Hyuga Clan's founder. Her eyes are probably going to be the same too."

"You have to be kidding..." said Kurenai taking a good look at Hinata.

"Kurenai," said Amane. "She is most likely going to struggle in her early years. I know Hiashi is going to try his hardest to make her into the heir. I predict thought it would probably be hard for her. If something happens to me-"

"Don't say that Amane."

"If something were to happen to me, look after her in my place. Even if it's not me, I want Hinata to have a motherly figure in her life."

"Promise me."

"Amane."

"Promise me." repeated Amane.

"I promise."

/flashback

(Kurenai told her only about the promise. She left out the parts about her being special and about her possibly being targeted.)

"My mother made you promise that." said Hinata with tears coming down.

Kurenai walked over to Hinata and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Remember this Hinata. Your mother loves you. Your father does to, it's just that he's having a hard time now."

"Yes," said Hinata wiping her tears. "Thank you sensei."

"Of course. See you tomorrow Hinata."

"Yes."

Hinata walked back towards her house as she was being barraged with thought about her mother and her godmother.

* * *

**Authors Notes:**

**1. There goes my first double-digit chapter. I really wanted to end it with a heartwarming moment like that.**

**2. Sorry if you're disappointed with the length but it was meant to be a continuation with the last chapter.**

**3. If you have suggestions or want to mention a mistake or maybe you just want to comment, please do.**


	11. Chapter 11: The Struggles of Hinata

**Sorry for the long wait everyone! I kind of got lazy. Again sorry to the group of people that keeps up with my story.**

**Authors Note: I now have a new goal in life. By the end this story will have at least 1000 in reviews, follows, and favorites. Maybe if I'm lucky I can break into the 2,000's. Then maybe the 3000's and then-.**

**I'm getting too carried away aren't I?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto and Shounen Jump do. (If I did, every episode's animation would be as good as the power (chikara) arch.)**

**The chapter will start from Kurenai's perspective and later shift back to Hinata.**

* * *

Chapter 11: The Struggles of Hinata

Kurenai was dashing through the trees with the up most precision. To her left was Shino, and to her right was Kiba. Hinata was in the front of the pack.

'There all in place.' thought Kurenai.

"Sensei, it's getting close." said Hinata.

"Good. All of you get ready. Once it's in sight we will all make our move."

"Right!" they all said in unison.

A few seconds later, the target came into her view. The rare silver-winged hawk was still low enough to the ground for the plan to work. Their mission was to retrieve hawk before the day's end. Even thought it was just a D-ranked mission, it was proving to be a pain.

Kurenai knew if they messed this up, their chance to catch the hawk would over. Kiba and Shino's job is to alter the hawk's path so that Hinata can swoop in and grab it. If Kurenai wanted she could retrieve the bird herself, but she wanted her students to pass this on their own.

"Okay sensei, we're in position." said Shino.

"On three, execute the plan." replied Kurenai. "One...Two...Three!"

Kiba and Shino both launched after the hawk making it alter its course in front of Hinata.

"Now Hinata!" screamed Kiba.

Hinata launched after the bird, only to miss her mark and go flying down into a bush.

'Oh no.' thought Kurenai as she watched the hawk soar high in the sky out of reach. 'Not only is it too high but it's going to get dark soon. This mission is over.'

The three went to go help Hinata out of the bushes. When they finally got her out she put her head down in shame as she was picking grass out of her hair.

"Man Hinata," said Kiba. "That's the third mission this week we failed because you didn't execute right."

"I'm sorry." softly said Hinata.

"Come on guys," said Kurenai. "It's getting dark. Let's go back to the village."

While they were going back to the village Kurenai kept looking at Hinata to see how she was doing. As usual, she looked depressed.

'Hinata...' thought Kurenai.

Ever since Hinata became a Genin she has struggled during her mission. In total, Team 8 has only completed two D-rank missions and has failed three others. Hinata struggled with her execution on all four missions. The courage and brilliance Hinata showed during the exam seemed to be fading with each day.

'It time I have a talk with her.' thought Kurenai.

When they finally reached the village Kurenai told Kiba and Shino they could turn in for the day. However, she told Hinata to follow her. She wanted to try to find out what the problem is. Kurenai decided to take her to one of her favorite shops where they sold sweets. Kurenai knew Hinata liked sweets so it was an easy choice. It's not like she could take her to a bar or something. After the two went to a table and then ordered, began speaking.

"Hinata, what's been the problem?" asked Kurenai.

"I don't know sensei."

"Is it that the missions aren't to your liking?"

"It's not that."

"Are the strategies to hard or confusing?"

"That's not it."

"Tell me Hinata. What's the problem?"

Hinata looked down as if she was trying to answer that question herself.

"I understand the plans and strategies perfectly. It's just that when it comes time to do it..."

Kurenai began to understand the problem. Hinata was smarter than Kiba and maybe smarter than Shino. Her problem is that she needs to work on her fundamentals. To put it simply she needed to work on her physical attributes.

'Since Hinata probably hasn't been properly trained because of her stuck up Hyuga instructors, she struggles with those types of things.' Thought Kurenai. 'She needs someone to show her how to perform during game time.'

Kurenai wanted to help Hinata herself but she had a better idea. Luckily, Team 8 will have a two-day break because Shino's clan had an annual event coming up. Kurenai could use that time to have a certain somebody aid her with Hinata's training.

"Hinata, I want you to report to my house at noon."

"Hmm? I thought we didn't have any missions for a week."

"We don't, but I'm going to help you try an overcome your struggles. I also have someone else that's going to help, maybe."

"Who sensei?"

"If everything goes right you'll find out tomorrow. Got it?" said Kurenai with a wink.

"Yes and thank you sensei. I know I can be a bother..."

"Nonsense! You just need proper guidance. If I could, I would go down to the Hyuga Estate and give those stuck up jerks a piece of my mind." Kurenai playfully held up her fist and flexed her arm. Hinata started giggling as their sweets finally arrived.

"I love sweets," said Hinata. "My mom and I would eat these all the time..."

Kurenai and Hinata had an unintentional moment of silence. Kurenai hastily tried to change the mood.

"Hey, let's dig in!"

"Yes."

As Kurenai was eating she kept thinking about tomorrow.

'Don't worry Hinata. I'll help you with your confidence during missions, I promise' thought Kurenai.

The Next Day at the Hyuga Estate...

"Again!"

Hinata got off the ground and charged at her opponent again. She was doing a morning sparring session, with one her instructor overlooking. Hinata was sparring against some boy she didn't know from the branch family. He looked like he didn't want to be there either,

"No Hinata," said the instructor. "Widen your stance and put more force in your thrusts."

Hinata charged again and the boy blocked her palm strikes. Hinata's instructor sighed.

"Since you seem to be completely incapable of performing on offense, let's test your defense."

"Yes." Hinata replied. She didn't even flinch at insults from her instructors anymore. She had gotten so many; she was pretty much expecting them now. Even when she did things right, they would still always find fault in them.

"Boy, I want you attack her with simple strikes."

"Yes sir."

He came at Hinata with some palm strikes like he was told. Hinata didn't really have a problem blocking them. Of course, the instructor did his best to find fault with Hinata's blocks. If it wasn't a problem with her stance, it was a problem with her form. Thankfully, because of the meeting with Kurenai, Hinata could stop early.

"I guess that's it for today Hinata," said the instructor. "Try not to be too much of a disappointment next time."

"Yes." replied Hinata as she started walking to the kitchen. She went to go get an apple from the fruit basket when she saw somebody else was already there. It was Hanabi; she appeared to be putting away a dish. Hanabi didn't glance in Hinata's direction as she began to walk out.

'My sister and I haven't talked in a long time. I should say hello.' As Hanabi got closer, Hinata put on a friendly smile and closed her eyes.

"Hello Hanabi-chan." Hanabi's expression remained unchanged as she walked past Hinata with her eyes still facing forward.

"Hello sister." bluntly replied Hanabi. She turned down the hallway leaving Hinata alone.

'Hanabi...' thought Hinata. 'Why are you like this?' Hinata doesn't know why she thought that. She already knew the answer. Her sister was a victim of the Hyuga lifestyle. It's the lifestyle that tries its best to suppress your normal nature and replace it with the ideal Hyuga attitude. As far as Hinata knows, the only people who weren't affected were her and Ko.

'Hanabi, I've let you become a victim of our clan. I'm sorry mother. I'm failing in my job to protect my sister.'

When Hanabi was born, Hinata was very excited at the idea of having a little sister. A person she could share secrets with and play games. If either of them had a problem, they could just go to each other and talk about it. These sisterly elements didn't apply to Hinata and Hanabi at all. Ever since Amane's death, Hanabi has started to adopt Hiashi's attitude. More so now that Hanabi is being personally trained by him.

Hinata remembered a time when Hanabi was friendly. She was three years old and it was months before Amane's death.

flashback

"Plant the seeds there Hanabi," said Amane helping Hanabi plant the seed. "You can water it now Hinata."

"Yes mother." happily replied Hinata.

The three were planting flowers in their family garden. It was a favorite pastime of Amane and Hinata. They were also having fun teaching Hanabi how to plant

flowers. Amane was showing her how deep to bury them and to plan them in an organized fashion so that it looks better when they bloom.

"Remember Hanabi, it's crucial that you don't put it too deep," said Amane giving Hanabi instructions. "You also don't want to make it too shallow."

"Okay...how about that." said Hanabi.

"Perfect."

"Look Oneesan, I did it!"

"Good job." replied Hinata.

"Okay Hanabi, it's time to stop for today," said Amane. "We can continue tomorrow."

"Yay!" Hanabi ran into the house leaving Hinata and her mother alone.

"That little one has so much energy." said Amane.

"Yeah." replied Hinata.

"Hinata, there something I need to talk to you about."

"Yes mother?"

"There is going to come a time when your sister is going to have to train in the Gentle Fist just like you. When that happens, I want you to make sure she doesn't become a victim of the Hyuga lifestyle."

"I'll try, but I don't know how much I can do."

"Don't be modest; you have still managed to be your own person even if it's not Hyuga like, right?"

"That's because of you mother." Amane giggled at Hinata's statement.

"I guess I am a bit of a rebel aren't I? At least that what your father says." It was Hinata's turn to start giggling. "However Hinata, there will come a time when Hanabi will need you. Just keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't become a mindless main branch zombie."

"Okay mother. I won't let you down."

/flashback

Hinata felt terrible that she was failing in doing something she told her mom that she would try to do. Hanabi seemed to be a shell of what she was when their mother was around. It's almost if her personality was sucked out of her and replaced like a broken light bulb. It wasn't too much of a shock though. Even before their mom's death, Hanabi seemed to spend most of her time with their dad. Hinata remembered the jokes Amane made about how Hanabi probably liked spending time with Hiashi because she had more of his features and Hinata liked hanging out with her mother because she shared most of her features.

Sadly, Hinata feels that Hanabi may have been sad when their mom passed because she never really got to know her well like Hinata did. Sometimes Hinata had to take lessons in reading emotions without her Byakugan. The emotions she read from Hanabi seemed odd at times.

The emotion Hinata thinks she sees is...jealousy.

Hinata was snapped out of her deep thought when she remembered about her meeting with Kurenai. She quickly ate her apple and went to meet her sensei. When she arrived in front of her house, Kurenai looked like she was just coming out herself.

"Hinata? Why are you early?"

"Sorry, but my lessons finished early and I figured I would just wait for you here."

"That's okay. I was just about to come get you so we could go talk the person I would like to help you. Let's go."

"Okay." Hinata was about to start walking when Kurenai stuck out her arm.

"Since we're going to the same place, how about a little race over rooftops?"

"Me race you?" Hinata looked confused. Why would Kurenai want to race her?

"Don't worry. I won't go at full speed. Also, if you can beat me, I'll tell you a story about your mother."

"Um, well... okay."

"Are target are the main gates of the village. Luckily my house is in the middle of the village so it won't be too long."

"Got it." Hinata doubted she could beat her sensei but she wanted to see how close she could come.

"On your mark...get set...go!"

They took off, jumping off the ground onto the nearest rooftop. They were taking different paths to the gates over the rooftops. Hinata used her Byakugan to see were her sensei was. She was a little farther than her.

'I'm going to lose at this rate...' thought Hinata. 'I really wanted to hear that story but I'm just not good enough.' She began to feel the doubt and insecurity she felt all hours of the day. Then a certain blonde headed knucklehead popped into her head. 'That's right. Naruto-kun wouldn't give up and neither will I.'

"I can do this!"

Hinata started to bawl her fists and narrow her eyes. She felt a strange feeling in her gut. The same feeling when she spoke out for Naruto in front of Iruka and Mizuki. The same feeling when she charged Kurenai in the exam. Hinata doesn't know what happened but for a split second she felt different and then...

she blacked out.

When she came to she was standing up, right under the main gates of the village. She was totally confused. The last thing she remembered was running over the rooftops, and the next she was standing here. When she turned around, Kurenai was walking towards her looking wide-eyed.

"Hinata... I didn't know you had that kind of speed. When I saw how far ahead you suddenly got I went at my normal speed, but you still beat me by five seconds. I'm impressed. Maybe if I would have promised you a story after every mission, you would have a perfect record. "Kurenai smiled in a playfully and teasing way. It was eerily close to how Hinata's mom would do it.

"T-Thank you." Hinata didn't have a clue how she ended up here or how she was able to go as fast as Kurenai. In the end she just shock off her wonder and accepted it as a freak event.

"Well Hinata, it's time to visit the training grounds."

Hinata and Kurenai began walking until they heard sounds. When they walked into the clearing she saw four people training. Two of them were near the river and the other two were near the three log posts. Hinata followed Kurenai to a man with the funniest haircut she had ever seen.

"Gai, how it going?" greeted Kurenai.

"Kurenai! I haven't spoken to you in a while. Probably busy embarrassing your youth like me and Lee."

"Right!" said Lee saluting.

Kurenai sighed at her fellow Jonin's flamboyant behavior. Hinata tried to stifle her giggles at Gai and Lee.

"Look Gai, I'm going to give it to you straight. Hinata is having problems performing on missions and I wanted someone to help her. I would have done it but I feel like you are a better choice."

"Hmm," said Gai looking at Hinata. "Well I would love to help Hinata embrace the flames of her youth but I'm afraid I'm busy with my students."

"I figured, so if you'll take Hinata I will help any number of your students with their Genjutsu or other things."

Gai put his fingers to his chin in a thinking manner. Hinata could tell for some reason that he did this a lot.

"Well... TenTen specializes in ninja tools and doesn't really have the chakra control to do Genjutsu. My Lee sadly can only do Taijutsu because of his messed up chakra coils. However, he still trains his hardest in Taijutsu and he is my star pupil!" Hinata honestly didn't know what was going on when both Gai and Lee started hugging and crying like father and son. Actually, Hinata had never even seen a father and son be that close.

"Gai-sensei!" yelled Lee.

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Hinata saw Kurenai slap her hand over her face in an attempt not to lose it. She was probably annoyed that the flamboyant duo was suddenly real emotional and that Gai still hasn't answered her question. One thing Hinata could definitely say is Gai is not like her instructors. Hinata believed for a long time that she was the only Hyuga with tear ducts until Amane corrected her.

"Ahem!" Kurenai focused their attention back unto her. "Like you were saying..."

"Oh right, sorry," said Guy wiping his tears and quickly returning to his former attitude. "Like I said both Lee and TenTen can't learn Genjutsu and I don't think Ne-"

He was interrupted when they heard a shout behind them. She turned around to see a girl who Hinata figured was TenTen and she also saw somebody that made her eyes widen. It was Neji.

'This is Neji's team?' thought Hinata.

"100 Weapon Assault!" shouted TenTen. Tons of different weapons came raining down towards Neji. Neji simply dodged each one of them while not having to move to far from his original spot. He moved so gracefully that all Hinata and Kurenai could do is stare. When it was finally done, Neji deactivated his Byakugan and gave a quick glare to Hinata. His glare made her look away.

"Amazing," said Kurenai. "So the rumors about him are true?"

"That's right," said Gai. "Neji is probably one of the best Genin to ever come from this village. He's a true genius. You must be proud of your clan member Hinata."

"Y-Yes."

"So Gai, you won't be able to do it."

"Sorry Kurenai. As much as I would like to aid a fellow Jonin, I'm simply too busy. However, if you're really desperate you could always ask...her."

Hinata could practically see the question mark hanging over Kurenai's head. Gai signaled with his finger to come closer. He whispered something in Kurenai's ear that Hinata and Lee couldn't hear. Kurenai's eye's widened and she stared at Gai.

"I don't know about this Gai..." said Kurenai.

"She is more qualified than both of us Kurenai. Since her new promotion, she probably has more free time than we do. If you want someone to help with Hinata's training, this is the best option I can think of."

Kurenai looked like she was giving this serious thought until she finally closed her eyes and came to a choice.

"Okay, I'll give it a shot."

"Great! If there is nothing else, I wish you and Hinata luck in embracing your youth!"

"Good luck, Kurenai-sempai and Hinata-san!" said Lee happily.

Hinata smiled with the honorific in her name. Her first impression of Gai and Lee were that they were kind of dramatic but they actually seemed kind of charming in and full of life way.

Kurenai and Hinata said thank you and Kurenai lead the way to their next destination.

"Those two were nice." said Hinata.

"There a little too dramatic for me," said Kurenai. "I guess were all victims of the Jonin effect."

"Jonin effect?"

"It's when someone finds a hobby to cope with the new overload of work. I started drinking more. Asuma started smoking more. As you heard, Gai never shuts up about youth. Kakashi always reads his naughty little books. Then again, all four of us started this when we were younger so I guess we're just an odd bunch."

Hinata giggled at her sensei stories.

"Didn't you say you would tell me a story?"

"I'll do it after the two days are up."

"By the way sensei, I don't think Gai's team would have worked for my anyway. Neji doesn't really like me."

"Why not?"

"Ever since his father's death-"

"Say no more. I understand. Neji is a victim of the times we live in. Hopefully someday he can move past it."

"I hope so."

Hinata and Kurenai walked to the far side of the Leaf. Finally, Kurenai stopped at a house Hinata has never seen.

"The person lives here?"

"That's right. Just in case this person says no Hinata, I'll help you myself. Even though I hate to admit it, this person can help you more in the two days we have than I can."

"What's this person like?"

"She may seem a little rough at first but her methods will soften as she warms up to you. Lucky for us you're a very hard person to hate. Now wait here."

"Yes, sensei."

Kurenai knocked on the door and she was let in. Hinata couldn't see who it was that let her in. She patiently waited until her sensei came out. She wondered what this person could be like. If this person could help her. After a while the door finally opened and Kurenai walked through.

"Sorry that took so long Hinata. Thankfully it went well so I would like to-"

"Sorry Kurenai, but I'll handle the introduction." said a new voice coming from behind Kurenai.

"Well go right ahead."

Hinata got a full view of the person as they came out the door. She had light brown, pupil-less eyes, and black hair which has a blue tint to it which is styled in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She was wearing a tan overcoat with a purple in-seam, which has a pocket on both sides, and complete with a fitted mesh body suit that stretches from her neck down to her thighs. She was also wearing a dark orange mini-skirt, as well as a forehead protector. Hinata spotted a small pendant that looks like a snake fang, a wrist watch, and pale gray shin guards. She was also wearing a dark blue belt around her waist that connects to her skirt that has an appendage-like sash.

Hinata could see she was another ninja that used her own style, just like Kurenai.

"What's up? My name is Anko Mitarashi and for the next two days, you're my little project!"

* * *

**Authors:**

**1. That's right people. Anko is going to help Hinata with her mission problems.**

**2. Thank you to anybody who has read this far. I really am happy at the buzz the story is starting to create.**

**3. If you have suggestions or want to mention a mistake or maybe you just want to comment, feel free.**


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